Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy (L'Espion Turc) is an eight-volume collection of fictional letters claiming to have been written by an Ottoman spy named "Mahmut", in the French court of Louis XIV.
Authorities agree that the first volume of this work, published in Italian in Paris in 1684, was written by a Genoese political refugee, Giovanni Paolo Marana (1642-1693), and was not a translation from Arabic. The remainder has been attributed to several English authors, among them Dr. Robert Midgley and William Bradshaw; however, it is likely that Midgley merely edited the English translation, made by Bradshaw, of the original Italian manuscript. Daniel Defoe wrote A Continuation of the Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy in 1718.
The complete title is Letters written by a Turkish spy, who lived five and forty years undiscovered at Paris: giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople, of the most remarkable transactions of Europe: and discovering several intrigues and secrets of the Christian courts (especially of that of France). Continued from the year 1637, to the year 1682.