The MS is in Voltaire’s hand and features several corrections. A note, added to the end of the MS in the hand of the Marquis d’Argence reads: ‘la lettre qui précede ce-ci ne peut pas être imprimee. il faut attendre que la raison ait fait plus de progrès’.

Katharina talks of the Frankfurt accident, and the French occupation of the city. She talks of the burning of the Judengasse, and reports on the state of the roads and their former home, Frieburger gaße which was also burned down. The situation is, she notes, fatal and threatening. She concludes by saying that almost all of her friends have emigrated so she is usually at home, playing the piano or reading. She notes that she is especially enjoying Voltaire’s Essai sur les mœeurs et l’esprit des nations.

In this letter, Voltaire discusses the literary prowess and French acumen of the Chinese Emperor Qianlong (Kien-Long), whom he praises as ‘the greatest man of the two hemispheres.’ He also notes that he has sent the Emperor three volumes of Questions, addressed ‘Au Roy’.

This text discusses America, Egypt, Ancient Greece, and India, as well as topics such as idolatry, miracles, temples, magic, Jews, and Ancient Romans. In the preface, it is said that the MS was offered by the author’s nephew to Catherine II of Russia. The manuscript is either unfinished or incomplete.

Voltaire recounts a meeting he had with Mr. Paff, an illustrious professor at Tubingen, and Mr. Crokius Dubius, whom Voltaire describes as one of the finest men of our time. Voltaire claims that he showed Mr. Paff and Mr. Crokius Dubius passages from Chapter XXXIX of Ezekiel which he believed provided proof of Jewish people eating human flesh. Mr. Paff replied that the passage was only relevant to the birds whilst Mr Crokius Dubius conducted a long examination of the passage and concluded that it was merely figurative and not proof at all. Voltaire begs the men to consider that Ezekiel lived at the time of Cambyse who had in his army many Scythians and Tartars who commonly ate both men and horses, and to remember various tales about Jewish people cooking and eating their children. Again, Voltaire recounts that Mr. Paff and Mr. Crokius Dubius rejected his claims. He went on to tell them that the most polite of nations had been canibals, including the Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, and Greeks and added that when Samuel cut King Agag into pieces it was in order to cook him in a stew. Mr. Paff and Mr. Crokius Dubius returned that the Jews do not eat stew and Voltaire then countered this by suggesting that the Jews stewed goats, leading to a debate about the superiority of human flesh over the flesh of other animals. Voltaire then claims that the discussion was interrupted by a soldier who informed them that he had eaten Cossacks during the Siege of Kolberg (1760) and that the meat was not superior but rather tough.

An almanac of particular use to those in the maritime trade. Also included in the almanac is a list of the ‘Kalendar of Months, Sabbaths, and Holidays, which the Hebrews or Jews observe and keep, for the Years 5557 and 5558 of the Creation’. The almanac was presumably intended to serve the many Jewish residents of Jamaica who required information about the Jewish calendar to plan their business voyages. Numerous handwritten notes have been added to the printed text, including a quote from Voltaire.

Almanacs issued in Jamaica included a page of the Jewish calendar as early as 1776, which “would seem to be an indication of the importance of Jewish residents in the eyes of Christian Jamaicans.” (See B. W. Korn, “The Haham DeCordova of Jamaica,” in: American Jewish Archives 18.2 (Nov. 1966), p. 141 n.2). These Jamaican calendars therefore, represent the very earliest appearances of Hebrew font in the Western Hemisphere, in a publication intended specifically for Jews. Earlier works with Hebrew type, such as Judah Monis’s Hebrew Grammar, were intended for a Gentile audience. The first Hebrew calendar on the American continent was not printed until 1851 (Singerman S463). — Kestenbaum & Company Catalogue, Auction 62: June 26th, 2014.

In these notes, Voltaire heavily criticises l’Histoire des Antiquités judaïques by Flavius Josèphe. The passage ends with the phrase: ‘judée; la moitie sterile, lautre bonne de la deux divers jugements’.

The MS forms part of a collection of notes mainly relating to genealogical research to be done in London.