(Schütz, Friedrich Wilhelm von.) Leben und Meinungen Moses Mendelssohn, nebst dem Geiste seiner Schriften in einem kurzen Abrisse dargestellet ["Life and opinions of Moses Mendelssohn against the spirit of his writings, presented in a brief outline."]

(MENDELSSOHN, MOSES).

Möllerischen Buchhandlung

Hamburg

1787

FIRST EDITION. Engraved bust of Mendelssohn by "J[ohann] C[hristian] G[ottfried] Fritzsch sc[ulpt] 1787" opposite title (see Meyer, p. 177, p. 28)

H.M.Z. Meyer, Moses Mendelssohn Bibliographie (1965), no. 736

First Biography of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1785). In the words of Prof. Altmann, this anonymous biography by von Schütz "was written with warm feeling for its hero and offered a great deal of information." Altmann wonders aloud why the otherwise sympathetic von Schütz should start the book on a half-sour note with a motto attributed to Shakespeare's Coriolan: "Der Mann war edel; aber durch seine letzte Unternehmung ward sein Name ein Denkmal der Folgezeit [The man was noble but through his last undertaking his name became a monument to posterity]. See A. Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (1973), p.757