Descrizione

Folio (278x200 mm). 24 unnumbered pages. Printed in two columns. Unbound and unsewn. Trace of central vertical folding. Small stain on the last leaf. A very good copy.
Extremely rare original edition. In February 1740, Charles of Bourbon issued an edict summoning Jewish bankers and merchants to Naples, Palermo and Messina in an attempt to revitalise the state economy. This measure was strongly opposed by the Catholic Church and local traditionalist groups aligned with Rome. In Naples, a pamphlet titled Sentimento intorno al Proclama, o sia Bando […] was circulated in the same year that the edict was published. This pamphlet contained a scathing attack on the Jews and summarised the position of the Neapolitan Curia, which faithfully carried out the directives of the Roman Curia. The Sentimento contains harsh theological and social criticism of the Jewish presence, summarising the arguments of the clergy aimed at blocking the religious and civil tolerance sought by the sovereign. Strong pressure from the Church and internal opposition quickly led to the plan to open the economy to Jews in the Kingdom of Naples being scaled back and eventually revoked (cf. M. Natale, Il progetto borbonico di una Napoli giudaica tra ansia di rinnovamento e ritorno al passato, in: “Italian Review of Legal History”, 7, 2021, no. 5, p. 153; see also N. Ferorelli, Gli Ebrei nell'Italia meridionale dall'età romana al secolo XVIII, Turin, 1915, pp. 252-253).
OCLC, 75198889 (1 copy at the University of Chicago).