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The De Tribus Impostoribus, or “Treatise on the three impostors”, is a unique book. Unique in that it was known, heavily criticized, and banned, but never read, half a millennium before it was written. Its title alone was enough to arouse rage and anger with religious institutions, as the three impostors the title refers to are Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Anger for calling the founding figure of their religion an impostor, and, maybe even worse, for equating him with the founding figures of competing creeds. Its mythical nature meant it couldn’t be attacked on its content and was untouchable for even the most sophisticated apologist. It was only in the early 18th century—the time of the enlightenment—that some freethinkers took up the challenge and actually produced a book under this title. This book is a kind of a mystification, pretending to be the medieval book so many religious leaders have fulminated against. Who has done it, and its history is still something of a mystery. The original book was in Latin, but translations in French, and German also appeared. Two English translations where made, one in 1846 and one in 1904. This edition is based on the 1846 edition, which includes quite a long introduction. Georges Minois gives a fascinating account of this work and its history in his 2012 book The Atheist’s Bible: The Most Dangerous Book That Never Existed..
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Scans of this book are available from The Internet Archive (copy [1]).
Related Library of Congress catalog page: [34023425].
Related Open Library catalog page (for source): [OL24994415M].
Related Open Library catalog page (for work): [OL16098768W].
Related WorldCat catalog page: [58763205].