Voltaire - Il Maometto tragedia - 1751

VOLTAIRE. Il Maometto tragedia di Monsieur Voltaire. Florence, Gio. Batista Stecchi, 1751.

12mo (145x100 mm); pp. 79, 1 blank; original carta rustica boards; with distinguished provenance, as coming from the library of Camillo Gustavo Galletti (1805-1868, with his stamp to title-page), later acquired by the French bibliophile and collector Horace de Landau (1824-1903, with his bookplate pasted to front cover); in genuine good condition with minor foxing.

Likely third edition (first Italian translation in 1742 with title Il fanatismo, ovvero Maometto profeta) of the famous five-act tragedy written in 1736 by the French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778), performed for the first time in Lille in 1741. The play apparently seems a critique of Islamic fanaticism based on the episode, in the traditional biography of Muhammad, in which he orders the murder of his opponents, but actually the figure of Muhammad is a metaphor of the Catholic Church. According to the French historian Pierre Milza (1938-2018) the author’s aim is to condemn “the intolerance of the Catholic Church and the crimes committed in the Lord’s name”. Voltaire sent a copy of the play to Pope Benedict XIV (with the intention of mocking the Church) with a couplet in Latin and a request for two holy medals. The Pope, misunderstanding the true meaning of the work, had the medals sent, as well as a reply in which he thanked him for his “very beautiful tragedy of Muhammad”. Voltaire had this correspondence published in every following edition of the play.