Jean-Jacques Rousseau, citoyen de Genève, à Christophe de Beaumont (…).

Marc Michel Rey, Amsterdam, 1763

Rousseau’s detailed and rhetorically masterful “Letter” to the Archbishop of Paris, Christoph de Beaumont, who had publicly condemned him in 1762 for “Émile ou de l’éducation”. Rousseau’s letter is a plea for religious freedom and, as such, a key moment in the history of the Enlightenment.

Description: Contemporary marbled calf, flat spine decorated in gilt, red morocco label lettered in gilt, richly gilt roll to turn-ins. Marbled endpapers. Sextodecimo: 17 × 10 cm; pp. xlii, 148. Edges red, silk bookmark bound in. Text in French.

Condition: Binding a bit scuffed and bruised at corners and spine ends. Contents with a few minor signs of age and use. Overall a very good copy.