This article reviews the documents in the campaign to destroy the anonymity around Justine by repeatedly denouncing Sade as its author. The campaig n lasted from 1798 to 1801 and involved increasingly violent denunciations on both sides, appearing in at least three newspapers and also surfacing in a now little-known verse satire by Joseph Despaze. Sade's ripostes were printed in newspapers, in his essay, Idée sur les romans, and also in a pamphlet of exemplary ferocity. We analyse the multiple exchanges between Sade and his opponents, and relate them to the theme of denunciation in the French Revolution more widely. © W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2014.