Sendschreiben an Seine Hochwürden, Herrn Oberconsistorialrath und Probst Teller zu Berlin von einigen Hausvaetern jüdischer Religion

AUCTION 1 | Thursday, November 14th, 1996 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Books, Manuscripts and Works of Art

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Lot 128
[FRIEDLAENDER, DAVID]

Sendschreiben an Seine Hochwürden, Herrn Oberconsistorialrath und Probst Teller zu Berlin von einigen Hausvaetern jüdischer Religion

(2),86pp. * BOUND WITH: [Teller, Wilhelm Abraham]. Beantwortung des Sendschreibens...(4),60pp. * [Hermes, Hermann Daniel]. Ueber das Sendschreiben...und die von demselben darauf ertheilte Antwort. (2),150pp. * J.A. de Luc. Lettres aux Auteurs Juifs d’un Memoire Adresse a Mr Teller. 99pp. Together 4 volumes bound in one. ALL FIRST EDITION Lightly foxed, contemporary boards, rubbed, 8vo Freimann 233-34; Rosenberger Catalogue, Judaica (HUC, 1971) p.217 (illustrated); Eichstadt, Bibliographie zur Geschichte der Judenfrage (1938) no. 334, 337, 348 and 346

Berlin (third, Leipzig): 1799

Est: $700 - $1,000
PRICE REALIZED $500
Following the death of Moses Mendelssohn in 1796, David Friedlaender became his intellectual successor and pioneer of the ideology of assimilation, occupying a prominent position in both Jewish and non-Jewish circles in Berlin. In 1799 Friedlaender sent this famous anonymous petition to Berlin’s Pastor Teller “In the Name of Some Jewish Householders,” requesting admittance to the Church - although without the requirement of accepting Christ or performing Christian ritual. Friedlaender believed Christianity and Judaism shared a common natural religion free of ritual. His request was denied, but a significant and contentious debate followed the “Open Letter” calling forth many replies. The letter indicates the level of despair among quarters of German Jews in their struggle for civil equality