GRÉGOIRE (l'abbé). Essay on the physical, moral and politica - Lot 100

GRÉGOIRE (l'abbé). Essay on the physical, moral and political regeneration of the Jews. Metz, Claude Lamort, 1789. In-8, 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 disparaged 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.