Catalogue of Books on the Masonic Institution, in Public Libraries of Twenty-Eight States of the Union, Antimasonic in Arguments and Conclusions. By Distinguished Literary Gentlemen, Citizens of the United States. With Introductory Remarks and a Compilation of Records and Remarks by A Member of the Suffolk Committee of 1829.
Boston: Printed by Damrell & Moore, 1852. Item #817 8vo. 225 x 140 mm., [9 x 5 ½ inches]. [12], 270 pp. Original cloth; spine and corners chipped, binding showing some water staining and some warping to the upper board, endpapers with tide marks; some light foxing throughout; sound. The intention behind the production of this catalogue is clearly stated in the open lines of the Remarks prepared by the authors of this book. “In the volume comprised in this Catalogue, the character and designs of the order of Freemasonry are clearly unfolded. It will be found to be a system of fraud, of deception, of baseless assumptions, of arrogance even to the defiance of the world to put it down. . .” The first 125 pages include a history of Masonry, its secretive nature, its anti-democratic tendencies, and the harm it does to the Republic. This is compiled by Henry Gassett who includes documents, manifestos, speeches, letters, and newspaper articles which chronicle the struggle against the society to 1850. This is followed by 145 pages listing every library by State and the nature of their holdings on the subject. Truly an early Union Catalogue on the subject of Masonry.
Price: $100.00