Italian manuscript translation of a French pamphlet criticizing contemporary France in the form of a dialogue between Muhammad and the recently deceased French Minister of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert. The pamphlet refers to the aftermath of the Battle of Vienna in 1683, in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Since France was also at war with the Holy Roman Empire, Muhammad thanks Colbert for his help against their mutual enemy and, to the Frenchman's surprise, proclaims victory for the Christians. Colbert responds that the goal has nevertheless been achieved: inflicting on France a regime comparable to that of the Ottoman Sultans, in which all the French live in a state of slavery.
The pamphlet was originally published in French as Entretien dans le royaume des tenebres sur les affaires du temps entre Mahomet et monsieur Colbert with a false imprint (Cologne, Pierre du Marteau) and probably printed in the Netherlands. It was subsequently published in Dutch and Spanish. We have found no record of a printed edition in Italian, but several manuscripts in at least two different Italian translations are known to exist in Italian libraries.
The sewing has come loose, but the manuscript is otherwise in very good condition. Drapeyron, "Un projet Français de conquête de l'empire Ottoman au XVIe et au XVIIe siècles", Revue des deux mondes XVIII (1876), p. 145; cf. Mazzatinti, Inventari dei manuscritti delle biblioteche d'Italia XIX, p. 156 & XXII, p. 11; Renaudet, Les sources de l'histoire de France aux Archives d'état de Florence, des guerres d'Italie aÌ la révolution, 756.