Lettres juives, ou correspondance philosophique, historique, et critique, entre un Juif voyageur à Paris & ses correspondans en divers endroits

New edition, following the original published in 1736/37 by the same publisher, but which contained only 180 letters compared to 203 for the subsequent ones. The table of contents occupies the space of the last volume.
Contemporary full blond calf binding. Smooth spine decorated. Red morocco title-label and black morocco volume labels. Head of spines of volumes II, III, and IV missing. Rubbing and surface wear to some boards. Some corners slightly bumped. Quite good set overall.
The Lettres juives are Boyer d'Argens' first literary contribution after his military career and his most remarkable book for its imagination and verve. The work was originally a periodical, with letters appearing regularly. A Jewish traveler in Europe shares his observations and reflections with his Jewish friends, following a model quite popular at the time and first employed by Marana in L'espion turc in 1684, then by Montesquieu in the Lettres Persanes in 1721. The whole gives rise to an elegant satire of society and customs of the period. Volume V is dedicated to Sancho Panza, the sixth to the barber of Don Quichotte. Nevertheless, a thoroughly philosophical and critical wind blows through the work, and it is the breath of the Enlightenment, the same found in the spirit of Diderot and Voltaire which questions the perception of things, opinion and truth.