Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Le livre des trois imposteurs

Other related names

• Lea, Henry Charles, 1825-1909, former owner
• Pappe, F. F, former owner

Call number

Ms. Codex 1187
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4316207
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4316625

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

French, with associated materials in Latin (f. 36r-37r, f. 38v-39v) and in German (f. 37v-38v, f. 39v)

Origin

Date

after 1733

Place

France or Germany

Summary

This clandestine manuscript circulated widely at the beginning of the 18th century under the alternate titles Traité des trois imposteurs and l'Esprit de Spinoza. The text was one of the most notorious treatises that attacked the traditional foundations of organized religion and of revelation. The treatise targets all three Abrahamic religions and accuses their founding prophets (Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad) of manipulating popular ignorance to obtain political power. The treatise exhibits a number of deist, pantheist, and atheist traits: it seeks to arrive at the understanding of God solely through reason and not through received tradition or sacred texts; the work argues that God is an infinite being that encompasses all existing corporeal and incorporeal substances; and it is critical of all alleged prophecies and supernatural phenomena, which, according to the text, are signs of ignorance of natural laws. This French version is based loosely on an earlier Latin manuscript De tribus impostoribus that circulated in the sixteenth century. The direct reference to René Descartes (f. 26r) and indirect allusions to the works of Thomas Hobbes, Gabriel Naudé, François La Mothe Le Vayer, and Baruch Spinoza point to the fact that this text did not come into existence until the end of the seventeenth century or the beginning of the eighteenth century. The authorship of the work is also widely disputed: some scholars have argued that it was composed by a disciple of Spinoza, others have claimed that it was a work of a radical Huguenot exile, still others suggest it was composed by a libertin erudit or by a disabused Catholic. This version of the text is divided into six chapters: I.De Dieu, II.Des raisons qui ont parlé les hommes à ses figures un Etre Supreme ou un Dieu, III.De ce que signifie le mot de religion, comment et pourquoi il s'en est glisse un si grand nombre dans le monde, IV.De verités evidentes, V.De l'ame, VI.Des esprits. This copy contains two inscriptions on f. 1v: the first references Jac. Frider. Reimannus [Jacob Friedrich Reimmann]; the second argues that this treatise was written by the secretary of Frederik II against Pope Gregory IX and references Voltaire's L'abregé de l'histoire universelle. A list of 73 references to authors who have discussed this treatise (f. 2r-3r) and a table of contents (f. 3v-4v) precede the text. Several responses to the treatise are included after the main text. The first piece following the treatise is a response to a critique composed by Bernard de la Monnoye. There is also a brief reaction by Maturin Veyssière de La Croze, royal librarian in Berlin, who claims to have seen a copy of this manuscript in 1706 in Frankfurt. Following La Croze's comments, there are several excerpts from various authors who have mentioned this work. The authors cited are Pietro Pomponazzi, Christian Kortholt, and J.F. Reimmann; two critical articles from the theological periodical Unschuldige Nachrichten from 1733 are also included.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from title page (f. 1r).
   
• Incipit: Quoiqu'il importe à tous les hommes, de connoitre la verité, très peu neanmoins la connoissent, parceque la plus part sont incapables de la chercher d'eux mêmes, ou ne veulent pas s'en donner la peine...(f. 5r); Explicit: [treatise] Ceux qui aiment la verité, y trouveront sans doute une grande consolation, et c'est à eux que je veux plaire, sans me soucier en nulle maniere de ceux, à qui les prejugés tiennent lieu d'oracles infaillibles (f. 28v).
   

Extent

44 leaves : 197 x 167 (180 x 150) mm. bound to 203 x 170 mm

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary calf (Zacour-Hirsch), upper cover detached; gilt spine and title Livre des trois imposteurs.

Layout

Written in 26-34 long lines.

Provenance

• Formerly owned by F. F. Pappe (inscription, f. i recto).
   
• Formerly owned by Henry Charles Lea (bookplate inside upper cover and inscription dated 1888, f. ii recto).
   

Subjects topical

• Deism--Early works to 1800
• Atheism--Early works to 1800
• Pantheism--Early works to 1800
• Rationalism--Early works to 1800
• Religion--Controversial literature--Early works to 1800
• Underground literature--France--18th century

Genres

• Codices
• Treatises
• Polemics
• Manuscripts, French--18th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2015 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  All referenced images and their content are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Table of contents

• fol. 1r — Le livre des trois imposteurs, f. 1r
• fol. 29r — Reponse a? la dissertation de Mr. de la Monnoye sur le traite? de tribus impostoribus a? la Haye chez Henry Scheurler, f. 29r
• fol. 35v — Jugement de feu de Mr. Maturin Veisfier La Croze conseiller, bibliothequaire du roi de Prusse et membre de l'Academie Royale a? Berlin sur ce traite? de tribus impostoribus, f. 35v
• fol. 36r — Petri Pomponatii Mantuani Tractatus de immortalitate Animae f. 36r
• fol. 36v — Christ. Kortholti de tribus impostoribus magnio liber, f. 36v
• fol. 37v — Unschuldige Nachrichten vom jahr 1733, f. 37v
• fol. 38v — Unschuldige Nachrichten vom jahr 1733, f. 38v
• fol. 39r — Bibliotheca Reimanniana, f. 39r
• fol. 39v — Verzeichniss einiger raren bucher, f. 39v