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

(ANTISEMITICA).

London

1766

Third Edition. Five volumes

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