Lot 142: LAVATER, JOHANN CASPAR.

Two printed pamphlets:
* Form und Glaubensfragen bey der Taufe zweyer Juden zu Zürich. pp. 20.
* Predigt bey der Taufe zweyer Israeliten, samt einem kurzen Vorbericht. pp. 80, (1). Unbound, spines taped. 8vo.
• In these two pamphlets the Swiss pastor Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801) addresses the conversion of two Jews in Zürich in 1771. The first pamphlet discusses questions of faith in general, the second contains the sermon that was held at a conversion ceremony. Lavater was well known in this regard following his public debate in 1769 in which he attempted to convert Moses Mendelssohn to Christianity. Thus the publication date of these two pamphlets suggests its connection to the Lavater-Mendelssohn controversy especially as very few conversion reports feature among Lavater's later writings.
It is of interest to note that formally, no Jews were permitted to live in Zürich between 1634 until the mid-19th century.
Zürich, 1771.