Der Juden Glaube und Aberglaube [“Jewish Belief and Superstition.”]

CHRISTIANI, FRIEDRICH ALBRECHT.

Fried. Lanckischens Erben

Leipzig

1705

FIRST EDITION. Engraved allegorical frontispiece and six (of 8) engravings depicting Jewish dress and ceremonies (Rubens 496-504, lacking 498 and 505). Text in German interspersed with Hebrew.

Prof. Elisheva Carlebach considered this autobiographical account of the author’s conversion from Judaism to Christianity of such significance, she included the entire German text verbatim (pp. 65-80) as the Appendix in her work: Divided Souls: Converts from Judaism to Christianity (2001) pp. 235-241. Christiani credits the debacle of the pseudo-messiah Shabbetai Tzvi as being instrumental in his conversion process (see Carlebach, p. 82).