[Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich]. Ueber die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn

FIRST EDITION of a work questioning the attitudes of Mendelssohn and his philosophical mentor and friend Lessing towards Spinoza. CONTAINS THE FIRST PRINTING OF TWO POEMS BY GOETHE: Edel sie der Mensch and Prometheus For a detailed account of the development of the correspondence betwen Jacobi and Mendelssohn concerning the issue of Lessing’s beliefs See A. Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (1973) pp.606-52 It has been suggested the tremendous strain this attack on Mendelssohn’s religious beliefs as well as the apparent deception by his intimate confidant Lessing regarding his concealed Spinozist leanings, resulted in Mendelssohn’s death the following year, in 1786