UN CHRÉTIEN CONTRE SIX JUIFS

La Haye [The Hague, but Geneva]: Aux dépens des Libraries, 1777. FIRST EDITION. 215 x 140 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2"). 1 p.l., 303, [3] pp.
Publisher's marbled paper wrappers, flat spine, edges untrimmed. A Large Paper Copy. Benesco 1860. Andrew R. Morehouse, "The Voltaire Collection in the Rare Book Room," The Yale Library Gazette 17, no. 4 (1943), p. 75.
Paper wrappers a bit faded (as expected), slightly defective at corners, and a little curled, otherwise (and perhaps even so) A VERY FINE COPY--the text, within immense margins, entirely clean, fresh, and bright.

This is a remarkable survival in its original wrappers of a work related to one of the most resonating controversies of Voltaire's life and writings--the question of his anti-Semitism. A giant of the Enlightenment and one of the greatest of French writers and philosophers, Voltaire (real name François-Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) writes here in response to "Lettres de quelques Juifs portugais, allemands et polonais, à M. de Voltaire," a 1776 critique by Antoine Guénée objecting to the anti-Semitism (especially as expressed within a commercial context) in our author's "Dictionnaire Philosophique." Deeply philosophical and leavened with satire, the 120 chapters of the seminal "Dictionnaire" were widely read, much condemned, and not infrequently burned, as they challenged religious authority, advocated for toleration, and dealt with many social and political issues from an uncomfortable Enlightenment perspective. And there can be no doubt that Voltaire's "Dictionnaire" does, in fact, contain critical remarks about the Jews; at the same time, the author's criticism is extended with equal warmth to organized religion in other forms. In the present response to Guénée, Voltaire is nothing if not scathing, which, in the end, works against him. As Voltaire scholar Andrew R. Morehouse wryly puts it, the text here expands upon Voltaire's previous points in such a way as to "justify the accusation that [he] is cruelly anti-Semitic." This work is not exactly rare, but it is very unusual to find it in original wrappers, as here, particularly in such fine condition..