Zola, Emile. Fecundity (Plodovitost), 1900. In Russian.

Золя Эмиль. Плодовитость. 
Пер. с фр. Д. Н. Сеславина.
Киев — Харьков : Ф. А. Иогансон, 1900.
453 с. Твердый переплет, обычный формат.
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Zola, Emile. Fecundity (Fécondité). 
Translated from French by D. N. Seslavin.
Kyiv — Kharkov : F. A. Ioganson, 1900.
453 pp. Hardcover, standard format.

This 1900 edition presents one of the most provocative and debated works of Emile Zola (1840–1902), published in Russia almost immediately after its original release in France. Fecundity is the first installment of Zola's final cycle, The Four Gospels (Les Quatre Évangiles). Moving away from the gritty naturalism of the Rougon-Macquart series, Zola utilizes this novel as a social manifesto, contrasting the virtues of a large, rural family with the perceived moral decay and "depopulation" of urban French society.
The translation by D. N. Seslavin captures the grand, often biblical cadence Zola employed for this late-period work. The novel follows the protagonist, Mathieu Froment, as he builds a prosperous life centered on labor and the upbringing of numerous children, serving as an ideological counterpoint to the Malthusian anxieties of the late 19th century. In Russia, Zola's utopian vision of agrarian labor and traditional family values found a complex reception, resonating with both the populist movements and the conservative social critics of the era.
The book was published by F. A. Ioganson, a prominent publisher active in both Kyiv and Kharkiv, known for bringing contemporary European literature to the Imperial Russian provinces. This particular edition represents the first wave of Zola’s influence in the Russian Empire, where his works were often subject to intense scrutiny or censorship due to their bold social commentary.
For collectors of 19th-century European literature, scholars of Zola’s late works, and enthusiasts of pre-revolutionary Russian publishing, this 1900 edition is a significant cultural artifact. It documents the rapid transmission of French literary thought into the Russian linguistic space at the turn of the century.