Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy
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Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy was an eight-volume collection of articles ostensibly written by an Ottoman spy named "Mahmut".[1] 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.
