University of Illinois Library bookplate "From the library of Conte Antonio Cavagna Sangiuliani di Gualdana Lazelada di Bereguardo, purchased 1921" on the inside front cover.

The first edition of this work began publication in 1684, when a volume in Italian entitled "L'esploratore turco" and a French version entitled "L'espion du grand seigneur" were published in Paris by C. Barbin. Authorship is disputed, but it is generally agreed that the first fifty letters (the original four volumes) were written by Marana. Barbier, on the authority of La Monnoye, ascribes two volumes which appeared in 1696 under title, "Suite de L'espion turc", to C. Cotolendi. Cf. Barbier. Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes, v. 2, col. 176-178.