The manuscript is an autograph letter, written in the hand of Henri Jean Baptiste Fabry de Moncault. The letter expresses gratitude for Voltaire’s feedback on Le Pyrrhonien raisonnable, challenges the Judaic interpretations of The Bible, contests the myths surrounding Moses, and reflects on moral imperatives and religious maxims.

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’.