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XII. The Fruitful Years 

Although the Zamenhof family's circumstances improved in the years following the 

turn of the century, Zamenhof’s life was not without problems. The revolutionary events 

of the years 1905–1907

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 also affected Warsaw. The conflicts among the leading 

Esperantists and the attacks of the Idists were poisoning Zamenhof’s life. 1907 was a 

particularly difficult year because of the Ido schism and the deaths of both his father-in-

law, Sender Zilbernik, and his father, Mark Zamenhof. 

Nonetheless, on the eve of his brother's fiftieth birthday, Lev Zamenhof was able to 

tell the Esperanto community: 

Zamenhof's life is quiet now. He works a great deal, for his entire day is 

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taken up by his professional work and his evenings are fully occupied with 

work for Esperanto. Still, despite his heavy workload and the sad state of 

his health (weakness of the heart and a weak pulse in the feet), he is 

completely happy. His only regrets are that there are not more than twenty-

four hours in the day and that lack of time and poor health do not allow him 

to complete everything he wants to do. (Ludovikologiaj biografietoj 36-37) 

How did he look at that time? From the recollections of contemporaries and from 

photos of him, we can easily recreate his appearance: He was short, always dressed in 

black, had dark, thinning hair and was going bald, but he had a large, greyish brown 

beard. His dark eyes were hidden behind gold-rimmed glasses that he never removed. 

He spoke gently and quietly. His movements were slow. He smoked heavily and 

appeared frail and unhealthy. He looked much older than he was; even when he was just 

in his mid-forties, he said that he felt like a man of 60. 

For almost twenty years he had lived and worked in the apartment on the second 

floor (the first floor in the European manner of counting) of the four-storey, redbrick 

house at number 19 Dzika street. He was the only oculist in Warsaw “who devoted one 

day a week to free treatment for poor patients [...] and on that day his home was 

besieged by the poor”. (Ludovikologiaj biografietoj 86) He saw patients from Monday to 

Friday. 

According to his nephew-in-law Max Levite, he kept the Sabbath (Maimon, 36). 

Zamenhof's father had begun a tradition of holding family gatherings, at which friends 

were also welcome, in his Warsaw home on the Sabbath, and, after his death, his son 

carried on the tradition. 

His improved financial situation enabled Zamenhof to enjoy a few weeks every 

summer in German spa centres: Bad Reinerz (now Duszniki-Zdrój), Bad Nauheim, Bad 

Kissingen, Bad Salzbrunn (now Szczawno- Zdrój), Bad Neuenahr. 

His work for Hachette gave him a significant income, but in Boulogne he was forced 

to announce that he would no longer give his approval to the Collection. This required 

that his contract with Hachette be adjusted, but, because both sides made excessive 

demands, the old contract remained in force. 

Bourlet, however, struck a deal with Hachette to launch a new journal with 

Zamenhof as a permanent contributor. For his work, Zamenhof was to receive one 

French franc for every published line of his. This was an excellent deal that he could not 

refuse. He needed only to send ten pages a month of some translation or other of his 

choice in order to receive a yearly income of 4,800 francs and enjoy a good standard of 

living. This arrangement was also good for Esperantists, who henceforth had their first 

real literary journal.  

The first issue of La Revuo appeared on the first of September, 1906, with the 

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subtitle “Internacia monata literatura gazeto, kun la konstanta kunlaborado de D-ro L. L. 

Zamenhof, Aŭtoro de la lingvo Esperanto” (Monthly international literary periodical 

with the permanent collaboration of Dr. L. L. Zamenhof, Esperanto's author). Bourlet 

was its editor-in-chief and its editor was Félicien Menu de Ménil, the composer of the 

Esperanto hymn La Espero. With La Revuo Zamenhof was freed from tedious 

administrative and editorial tasks, and he did not have to write insignificant texts and 

commentaries on the Esperanto movement.