Letters Written by a Turkish Spy, Who Lived Forty-five Years in Paris; Giving an Impartial Account to the Divan at Constantinople of the Most Remarkable Transactions of Europe, Volume IV

Volume IV (of VIII) only.  xviii, 262pp.  Full calf’s leather binding with gilt decorations and gilt lettering on rear leather label on the spine.  All edges speckled.  12mo.  Covers rounded at corners and spine ends, leather cracked along front joint, rubbed around spine.  Text block edges dull and spotted.  Front hinge partially cracked.  Pencil annotation on front paste down and modern gift inscription inked on front free endpaper.  Some minor spotting on first and last few pages else internally neat, clean and tight.  

Letters Written (or Writ) by A Turkish Spy is an eight volume collection of fictional letters purportedly written by an Ottoman spy called Mahmut while attending the French court of Louis XIV.  It is generally agreed that the first volume, first published in the 1680s, was authored by the Genoese refugee Giovanni Paolo Marana (1642-1693) but authorship of the subsequent seven volumes, which appeared shortly after, is disputed.  The work was popular throughout the 18th century and went through various editions. This edition from 1801, and stated as a New Edition, is likely the 14th or 15th edition of the complete set.