Rare first French edition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, widely recognized as one of the most infamous antisemitic conspiracy texts in modern history.
 
First published in a Russian newspaper in 1903, this fabricated document was translated into major European languages, notably influencing Henry Ford's The International Jew. Despite being exposed as a forgery in 1921, it was utilized by the Nazis to propagate antisemitic ideologies. Alarmingly, it remains in circulation today, both in print and online.
 
The text is divided into 24 chapters, falsely presenting themselves as minutes from secret meetings of a Jewish group known as the "learned elders of Zion", allegedly plotting global domination over politics, economy, media, and education.
 
In 1920, British journalist Lucien Wolf demonstrated that the book was a fabrication, drawing parallels to the German novel Biarritz (1868). The following year, The Times revealed significant portions were plagiarized from Maurice Joly's Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu (1864).
 
This French edition includes a brief introduction, the main text of the Protocols (pp. 13-83), and appendices. Notably, one appendix titled "Les Juifs instigateurs, machinateurs et chefs du Bolchevisme en tous pays" attempts to link Jews to international communism, alleging societal disruption across Europe.
 
It was published by the antisemitic journal La Vieille France, which, between 1916 and 1924, was edited by Urbain Gohier—a journalist who, remarkably, had defended Dreyfus during the infamous affair some two decades earlier.