Proposta sopra la Consonanza elle antichità Indiane con la Storia di Mosè tratta dagli Anniversari Discorsi del Sir William Jones.

Bookseller Notes

Scarce. This short Italian monograph explores apparent links between the stories of the Old Testament and the religion and mythology of ancient India. It identifies mythemes which appear in both Christian and Hindu stories of creation, particularly the biographical similarities between Moses and Brahma. The text is based on the presidential addresses of judge Sir William Jones (1746-94) to the Asiatick Society of Bengal, which Jones had founded in Calcutta in 1784. Renowned for his far-reaching engagement with Indian culture and philology, Jones presented eleven addresses to the Society. Here, northern Italian priest and academic G. Vicenzo Bossi translates Jones' work and augments it with reference to more recent studies in the field, published in the Edinburgh Review and elsewhere. A truncated version of the article appeared in the inaugural issue of the conservative journalL'amico d'Italia (1822, pp. 185-98). The journal, which was produced in Turin and ran until 1829, is scarce (with copies at the Bodleian and BL only in the UK).