Les Francs - Maçons

Bruxelles - Brussels: Librairie Européenne C. Muquardt. Very Good. 1888. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 62 & [1] pages; Bound in black half crushed levant morocco over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, edges untrimmed. Publisher's original yellow printed wrappers bound in. Scarce first edition, published anonymously, of this important contribution to the literature of Belgian free masonry. The long-lived author, Pierre Tempels [1825-1923] was Auditeur général militaire de l'armée Belge. There is handsome graphic evidence of his Masonic contributions in the form of a portrait medallion, issued in 1921. Binding handsome and clean, the wrappers have minor edge wear and small tears (particularly the rear wrapper) and one leaf has a long interior (closed) tear, without loss. First of several editions - the text may never have been allowed to pass out of print. Subsequent editions have the author's name specified, but this 1888 first edition was issued anonymously. See Fesch, P. Bibliographie De La Franc-Maçonnerie Et Des Sociétés Secrètes I - 355. The text was translated from the original French into German (published also in 1888 in Darmstadt) and also into Dutch within a couple of years. Both of these translations appear in OCLC, but the French original offered here does not (nor in BN, British Library). ; Experience the pleasure of reading and appreciating this actual printed item. It has its own physical history that imbues it with a character lacking in ephemeral electronic renderings. .