Books and Manuscripts

One of the Earliest Printed Books on Freemasonry

London: Printed by William Hunter, for John Senex and John Hooke, 1723. First edition. Square 8vo. (viii), 91, (1) (ads) pp, including half-title. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece by John Pine, and six-pages of printed musical scores. Contemporary paneled brown speckled calf, stamped in blind and in gilt, front and rear boards separated but holding; all edges trimmed; scattered minor soiling and spotting to text; armorial book-plate of Sir Darcy Lever Esquire (d. 1743), High Sheriff of Lancashire, England; in blue cloth fall-down-back box. Vibert 1, p. 13, "Perfect copies with the half-title are very rare."; ESTC T86287

A rare and complete copy of the second book ever printed on freemasonry. Anderson's influential text was published only six years following the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in England, and is preceded only by the extremely rare Old Constitutions, published by J. Roberts in 1722 (ESTC locates only three copies). This edition became the standard work of reference for freemasonry until the end of the Victorian era, and went through 24 editions between 1723-1897. It is divided into three sections: a history of freemasonry, charges to which all freemasons are to adhere, and regulations governing masonic lodges.