FREEMASONS

[Sir Robert Liston, Scottish diplomat, British Envoy Extraordinary (Ambassador) to the United States.] Autograph Note Signed to William Jerdan ('My Dear old Boy'), editor of the Literary Gazette, agreeing to come to 'the free masons'.

Author: 
Sir Robert Liston (1742-1836), Scottish diplomat, British Envoy Extraordinary (Ambassador) to the United States [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of ‘The Literary Gazette’; Freemasonry]
Publication details: 
30 January [no year]. No place.
£45.00

See the two men's entries in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded for postage. Reads: ‘Jany 30. / My Dear old Boy / Ill come on Thursday with great pleasure to the free masons / Yrs faithfully / Robt Liston / W. Jerdan Esq’.

[ Venizelos; R. E. Baynes, Oxford physicist/freemason. ] Two Autograph Letters Signed ('R. E. Baynes'), first containing an anecdote regarding 'the maker of modern Greece' Eleftherios Venizelos at a Christ Church gaudy, the second on Freemasonry.

Author: 
R. E. Baynes [ Robert Edward Baynes ] (1849-1921) of Christ Church, Oxford, physicist and freemason [ William Scoresby Routledge; Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos (1864-1936), Greek statesman ]
Publication details: 
One on letterhead of Christ Church, Oxford, 2 July 1920; the other from 'Ch. Ch. Oct 30 [ no year ]'.
£120.00

From the papers of William Scoresby Routledge (1859-1939), Australian-born British ethnographer, anthropologist and adventurer. Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, but the first with a vertical closed tear at the base of one leaf. ONE: On letterhead of Christ Church, Oxford. 2 July 1920. 3pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Routledge's silence, he begins by stating, led him to think that he was 'somewhere on the High Seas', but he has realised that it was due to a mistaken address 'in the Steward's Office Address Book, where 'Conservative Club' has been written for 'Carlton Club'.

[ Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Lucius Curtis') to an unnamed 'Dear Sir & Brother' (freemason?), regarding 'the Election of Poor Brother Moss' Son'.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis (1786-1869), Royal Navy officer [ Freemasonry? ]
Publication details: 
Cosham [ near Portsmouth ]. 9 December 1862.
£90.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper. Newspaper cutting of obituary laid-down at foot. He asks to be sent 'some Printed cards, for the Election of Poor Brother Moss' Son'. These are wanted 'to send to a friend in Warwickshire, as also to one in Surrey - for them to Distribute.'

[ Printed pamphlet. ] Answer to Dr Mitchell's Statement of Facts.

Author: 
James Gibson [ afterwards Sir James Gibson Craig (1765-1850) of Riccarton; Dr John Mitchell, M.D., Freemason, Master of the Caledonian Lodge of Edinburgh, Scotland ]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh, 5th March 1808. Neill & Co. Printers.
£80.00

12pp., 4to. Unbound. In fair condition, aged, worn, and with light damp-staining. An interesting document in the context of Whig politics and Freemasonry in Scotland. One of a number of acrimonious pamphlets exchanged between the two men. On 22 February 1808, a few days before the writing of the present pamphlet, Mitchell had distributed a handbill stating: 'I hereby declare to the world, that, Mr James Gibson, Writer to the Signet, of York Place, is a dastardly ruffian and infamous coward'.

[Manuscript; Friendly Society] Balance Sheets from June Quarter 1865 [TO December Quarter 1872] Loyal Cambridge Lodge. M.U.I.O.O.F.

Author: 
[Friendly Society] [Loyal Cambridge Lodge Manchester Unity of Independent Order of Odd Fellows (M.U.I.O.O.F.)
Publication details: 
1865-1872
£250.00

78pp. used, fol., hf. lea. worn, hinge strain, some pages partially detached, text clear and complete. Main headings: Sick and Funeral Fund; Incidental Expenses Fund; Cash on a/c of Members of other Lodges. Sub-headins include: Contributions, goods & postage, fines, levies, surgeon's fees, contributions in hand; amount paid to members during sickness, medical attention & medical contributions, placing name on Respect B[oar]d, Printers Bill, Postage, etc.Signed off by auditors.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Richd. Morris') from the philologist Rev. Richard Morris, Headmaster of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, to J. T. Baron of Blackburn, giving publication details of two of his works.

Author: 
Rev. Richard Morris (1833-1894), English philologist, Headmaster of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, 1875-1888
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, Wood Green, London. 10 June 1882.
£60.00

2pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. In original envelope, with stamp and postmarks, addressed by Morris to Baron at 18 Griffin Street, Witton, Blackburn. Morris begins by giving details of the availability of his 'Etymology of Local Names' and 'Historical Outlines', before informing Baron (a brazen autograph hunter) that he does not know 'Wm. Morris' Address, but a letter addressed to him & sent to his publisher would be forwarded'.

Manuscript document in French, a copy, ('Collationné Certiffié [sic] sincère et véritable') from the Duc de Luxembourg for the Grand Orient de France, to 'tous Les Maçons reguliers', certified by the 'Secretaire de la loge des vrais amis' (Daumas?).

Author: 
[Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization, founded in 1733; la Loge des Vrais Amis; Anne de Montmorency-Luxembourg, Duc de Luxembourg (1737-1803); Freemasons; Freemasonry]
Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization
Publication details: 
Année de la Vraie Lumière 5781 [i.e. 1781]
£400.00
Le Grand Orient de France, French Masonic organization

Folio, 3 pp. Bifolium. On watermarked laid paper. Headed 'A La Gloire du Grand architecte de L'univers sous Les auspices et au Nom du Serenissime G M | Le Grand orient de france a tous les Maçons reguliers, | union force salut'. Apparently regarding relations 'Entre Nous & Les directoires

Secretarial Letter, signed 'William Guthrie' (Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland), to Charles Sharpe, carrying itemised details of 'the arrears &c due by the different Lodges' in Dumfriesshire.

Author: 
William Guthrie, Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, Edinburgh [Freemasons; Freemasonry; Masonic]
William Guthrie, Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland to Charles Sharpe
Publication details: 
Edinburgh; 19 August 1802.
£280.00
William Guthrie, Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland to Charles Sharpe

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Minimal damage has been caused to the second leaf (affecting two or three unimportant words of text) by the breaking of the red wax seal. Addressed by Guthrie 'To Charles Sharpe of Hoddam Esqr [Hoddam Castle] | Provenance Grand Master for Dumfries Shire'. Small circular red ink postmark. Docketed. Guthrie's letter, in a secretarial hand but signed and with an initialed postscript by him, covers the two centre pages. He writes that 'a great proportion' of the lodges are in arrears, 'some of them 20 years and upwards'.

Fascists and Nazis. By Perry Belmont, Commander of the Narragansett Bay Chapter of the Military Order of the World War.

Author: 
Perry Belmont [Eric Underwood; German Nazism; fascism; the Teutonic Order; Freemasonry]
Publication details: 
[Privately printed.] Newport, Rhode Island: December, 1940.
£150.00

Stapled pamphlet. 8vo, 27 pp, including full-page photograph of Mussolini embracing a man in Nazi uniform (Himmler?). Fair: internally clean and tight; some marking and wear to covers. Inscribed on title-page to 'Eric Underwood Esq with the sincere regards of Perry Belmont'. (Underwood is perhaps the English-born Australian nutritionist, 1905-1980.) Curious, digressive, energetic attack on fascism, with sections on the Teutonic Order, 'Oath-bound organisations' (Freemasonry) and 'Gangsters'.

Programme, with signatures, entitled 'The Centenary Meeting of the Reading Lodge of Union No. 414, held at the Masonic Hall, Greyfriars Road, Reading, on Thursday, Twenty-sixth day of October, Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-three.'

Author: 
Reading Lodge of Union No. 414 [Freemasons; Freemasonry; Masonic]
Publication details: 
Printed at The Crown Press. Caxton Street, Reading, by Bradley & Son, Ltd. [1933.]
£45.00

Octavo, 16 pages. In original cream wraps, tied with blue ribbon, and with the insignia of the Lodge printed on the front. Good, if a little aged. Creased where folded in half. With the signatures of seven of the Lodge's members in pencil on front wrap (Bob Bradley, P. H. Crozier, Herbert L. Hawkes and others). From the collection of the pamphlet's printer Robert W. Bradley, who is listed among the Lodge's Officers as 'Organist', and who signs 'Bob Bradley'.

[TRAVELLER'S DUMMY] The history of freemasonry its antiquities, symbols, constitutions, customs, etc.

Author: 
Robert Freke Gould
Publication details: 
London: The Caxton Publishing Company, 84, 85, 86 Chancery Lane, W.C.; no date [circa 1900?].
£80.00

4to. 36 leaves and 18 engravings. Bound in plain and worn black cloth, with remains of two ribbon strips on back board. Some of the plates are heavily foxed, but otherwise the volume is in very good condition. Examples of the two attractive alternative decorated bindings are attached to the front and rear endpapers. Over the front pastedown is laid an example of the front board of the dark blue cloth binding of the six-volume edition, heavily decorated in gilt with masonic insignia (all-seeing eye, chain of office, dividers, etc.) inside a decorative gilt border containing other insignia.

Syndicate content