Argens, Jean Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’. The Jewish Spy

AUCTION 24 | Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Ceremonial Art and Holy Land Maps Including Ceremonial Art from the Collection of Daniel M. Friedenberg

Back to Catalogue Download Catalogue

<Previous Lot

/370

Next Lot>

Lot 27

(ANTISEMITICA).

Argens, Jean Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’. The Jewish Spy

Third Edition. Five volumes I: pp. 12, 303, (43). II: pp. 12, 312, (46). III: pp. 16, 322, (58). IV: pp. 20, 317, (33). V: pp. 24, 368, (26). Ex libris. Lightly stained. Uniform contemporary cloth. 8vo

London: 1766

Est: $300 - $400

After being wounded as a young soldier in the Battle of Philipsbourg, the Marquis d’Argens settled in Holland, where he pursued a career as writer. The Lettres Juives, his literary debut, proved an immediate success. Voltaire particularly admired this cheeky satire. Under the guise of letters supposedly traded between Jews in Turkey, Italy, and France (specifically “Aaron Monceca, at Paris, to Isaac Onis, a Rabbi, at Constantinople”), the author pokes fun at “Nazarenes” (Christians), “Mahometans” (Muslims), women, and of course, Jews