Traité des trois imposteurs.

12mo: [2]-168-[iii] pp. (sm. stains on 1st ff, occ. foxing, contemp. ms. notes on last blank p.).

19th-c. quarter brown shagreen, marbled paper boards, gilt-orn. spine with raised bands (sl. rubbed).

One of the latest edition of an enigmatic work on the imposture of the founders of the three monotheistic religions, inspired by Spinoza's thought (especially his "Ethics"). The text, at the time attributed to Jean-Maximilien Lucas, a disciple of Spinoza, or Henri de Boulainvilliers, was recently attributed to the Dutch author Jan Vroesen (1672-1725). First published in 1719 in Rotterdam under the title "La vie et l'esprit de M. Benoît Spinoza" (in 8 chapters), the text in its final form was edited in 1768 (Amsterdam, M.-M. Rey) and then re-edited from 1775 to 1796. Woodcut title-vignette and headpiece.
Ref. Barbier IV:788. - Van der Linde 102. - Benitez, M.- "La diffusion du "Traité des trois imposteurs" au XVIIIe siècle", in Revue d’Histoire moderne & contemporaine, 40/1, 1993, pp. 137-151. - Data.bnf.fr.