This section contains 2,810 words (approx. 10 pages at 300 words per page) |
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Dictionary of Literary Biography on Moses Mendelssohn
In 1774 Johann Jacob Spiess, the editor of the Brandenburgische historische Münzbelustigungen, a popular numismatic publication, asked Moses Mendelssohn to supply him with some biographical data; a coin with Mendelssohn's portrait had just been issued, and Spiess wanted to introduce him to the public. Mendelssohn, however, had doubts in regard to this undertaking: "Meine Lebensumstände sind von so geringer Erheblichkeit, daß ich Ihren Lesern keine sonderliche Unterhaltung versprechen kann; mir selbst haben sie so unwichtig geschienen, daß ich nicht das Mindeste davon aufgezeichnet habe" (The circumstances of my life are of such little importance that I cannot promise your readers any special diversion; to myself they have appeared so insignificant that I have not bothered to note down the least of them).
Mendelssohn proceeded, nevertheless: "Ich bin im Jahre 1729 (den 12 Ellul 5489 nach jüdischer Zeitrechnung) zu Dessau geboren. Mein Vater war daselbst...
This section contains 2,810 words (approx. 10 pages at 300 words per page) |
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