Jewry in France

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Europe witnessed a stunning surge in Jewish wealth and power. In 1798, Immanuel Kant wrote that Jewish wealth "exceeds that of any other nation." In 1823, Byron remarked that "all states, all sovereigns, the Jews control." In 1843, Bauer exclaimed that "the Jew decides the destiny of Europe." And in 1873, Millingen could write that "Jews today trample underfoot the power of the nations of the world."

France, of course, was not immune to all this. Jews were instrumental in, and benefited from, the French Revolution of 1789. By the 1840s, they could be called "the kings of the epoch" (Toussenel), and by the mid-1880s, Edouard Drumont could write a 1,200-page work entitled La France Juive-Jewish France.

In 1887, Drumont's book came to the attention of a Greek-American scholar named Telemachus Timayenis. A multi-linguist, he quickly absorbed Drumont's French text and immediately realized that the book was of considerable importance, and further, that some similar process was afoot in America. Timayenis decided to create his own book, in English, quoting extensive passages and ideas from Drumont while casting it all in an American context. The resulting book, The Original Mr. Jacobs (1888), became quite a sensation in New York. By the early 1900s, however, American interested in the Jewish Question had faded, and with Timayenis' death in 1918, the book fell into obscurity.

A number of poor-quality reprints appeared in the 2000s, but the book has never had a professional treatment until now. Here, editor Thomas Dalton, PhD has reproduced and properly edited the original text, adding an introduction, footnotes, bibliography, and index. As a reflection of this, and as a nod to the heavy reliance on Drumont, this edition has been re-titled Jewry in France, with the subtitle Or, The Original Mr. Jacobs. The book provides an unprecedented look at Jewish influence in France, from the Roman era through the late 1880s. It is an essential text for all those interested in the development and evolution of Jewish power in the West.