This book contains the doctoral treatise of Philip Duval, son of Philippe Duval, physician to Augusta, Princess of Wales. Duval earned his DD from Cambridge in 1756 and wrote this treatise on the defence of Jesus Christ during his trial by the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish assembly in Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. He defended the paper in front of the noted German Hebraist, Andreas Georg Wähner (1693-1762) at the University of Göttingen, where this book was printed.
 
Traditional Christian scholarship placed the blame for the crucifixion on the Sanhedrin but modern scholars have argued that Jewish authorities had little power during the Roman period and the decision to crucify (a Roman, not a Jewish punishment) Christ was solely the responsibility of Roman magistrates.

The book was bound for Princess Augusta when Dowager Princess of Wales, her husband Frederick, Prince of Wales having died in 1751. As mother of the future George III, she commanded a lot of influence, and this volume is dedicated to her. Duval would later serve as Canon of Windsor during the reign of George III.

Binding information

Full leather bound in red sheepskin, with the arms of Augusta Princess of Wales (1719-72) to whom the book was dedicated, with supporters, with motto ICH DIEN beneath, on both covers, with border of ornate Prince of Wales feathers and crowned foliate patterned roll tool and dogtooth roll tool, with tooling to edges of boards as well as turn ins.
Spine divided into six compartments, with tooling of orbs and flowers within each divided by a dogtooth roll. All edges gilt.