Bidspirit auction | ( DAMASCUS AFFAIR). ( MONTEFIORE,

( DAMASCUS AFFAIR). ( MONTEFIORE, MOSES). Traduzione del firmano accordato da sua maesta imperiale il sultano Abd ool Medjid agli Israeliti del suo impero: a richiesta del cavaliere Sir Moise Montefiore F.R.S. … li 11 Hesvan 5601, li 13 Ramazan 1256 (corrispondente ai 7 Novembre 1840): coll' aggiunta di altri documenti relatifi alla sua missione. (Malta?), circa, 1840. Italian text. pp. 15. Stained, few neat paper repairs. Unbound. 8vo. “Translation of the firman granted by his imperial majesty Sultan Abd ool Medjid to the Israelites of his empire, at the request of Sir Moise Montefiore… with the addition of other documents relating to his mission.”  Includes letters, translated into Italian, from Rabbis Solomon Hirschel and David Meldola. The Damascus affair of 1840 refers to the arrest of several notable members of the Jewish community in Damascus on the accusation of murdering a Christian monk and his Muslim servant for the alleged purpose of using their blood to bake matzo - the notorious antisemitic accusation known as a “blood libel.” Local Christians were supported in their accusation by the French consul at Damascus, Ulysse de Ratti-Menton, who ordered that an investigation be carried out in the Jewish quarter where the two murdered men had last been seen. Encouraged by the Egyptian governor of Damascus to act further upon the matter, random Jews were imprisoned, interrogated under torture, after which they “confessed” to the murders. Thereafter, Christian and Muslim violence against the local Jewish population increased markedly.   The affair drew widespread international attention and opprobrium especially among Western European Jewry. Following demands from Sir Moses Montefiore and Adolphe Crémieux, remaining imprisoned Jews were released, but without acquittal. Finally, in November 1840, following the restoration of Ottoman rule over Syria, Sultan Abdülmecid I issued a firman (edict) that fully denounced the spurious blood libel charges.