Mendelssohn, Moses
Lettres juives du celebre Mendels-sohn philosophe de Berlin; avec les remarques et reponses de Monsieur le docteur Kölble et autres savants hommes. Recueil memorable concernant le Judaïsme. Francfurt /The Hague, Aux depends de la Compagnie, 1771.
Rare French edition of the celebrated letters of Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, documenting the religious controversies surrounding Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Enlightenment. An important work on Jewish emancipation and religious tolerance, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece depicting scenes of Jewish life.
Modern, old style binding, half calf leather. Else a good copy with an ownership mark on the titlepage (Joseph Basler [or Basbe?]). With an engraved frontispiece showing three scenes from jewish life and a small engraving on the titlepage by I.M. Eben. A-Z 8, pag.: 368. The filosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) was the spiritual leader of the German Jewry during the Enlightenment. He wrote many philosophical treatises and is considered the father of the Jewish Enlightenment. Thus he became the symbol of progressive Judaism to the Christian world. At the height of his career, in 1769, Mendelssohn was publicly challenged by a Christian apologist, a Zurich pastor named John Lavater, to defend the superiority of Judaism over Christianity. The letters forming his reply – published in German in 1770 and translated for the present rare French edition – neither attacked Christianity nor defended Judaism; they maintained instead that such polemics were inconsistent with Judaism and unbecoming of Jews. The controversy, which disturbed Mendelssohn greatly, forced him to recognize that his Judaism created a barrier between himself and his enlightened colleagues. Mendelssohn wanted to take the Jews out of a ghetto lifestyle and into secular society. He tried to improve the relationship between Jews and Christians as he argued for tolerance and humanity. B0109.
SKU: 24753
€ 893,80(€ 820,00
![[Antique print, etching, Romeyn de Hooghe] Zeldzaam Huwelyk [Het raadsel te Nijmegen, 1619], published 1721, 1 p.](https://arinevandersteur.nl/wp-content/uploads/27646_1-scaled-1-356x356.jpg)
