Lot n° 151
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GRÉGOIRE. Essay on the physical, moral and political regener - Lot 151
GRÉGOIRE. Essay on the physical, moral and political regeneration of the Jews. Metz, Claude Lamort, 1789. In-8, long-grained green half-maroquin, untrimmed (Honnelaître).
Szajkowski, Jews and the French Revolutions, no. 9.
First edition of this essay written by Abbé Grégoire (1750-1831) in response to the 1788 Metz Academy competition.
It was the first major blow against anti-Semitism (Thierry Bodin, in En français dans le texte, n°193).
Of the three works crowned by the Académie de Metz, only that of Abbé Grégoire exerted any real influence on part of public opinion. [...] the work presented a remarkable character for its time: this essay in favor of the Jews came from a Catholic priest. [...] That a priest should take the side of the Jews could surprise and move public opinion. For centuries, the Catholic Church had denounced them as a deicidal people, stiff-necked and obstinate in their refusal to accept the divine nature of Christ. [...] From emancipation, Gregory expects assimilation...(Robert Badinter, Libres et égaux).
Copy bound in pamphlet.
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