Rare Masonic book, France or Switzerland around 1766–1770.

Rare Masonic book, France or Switzerland around 1766–1770. Rare anonymous French edition of one of the earliest and most influential exposés on the higher grades of Freemasonry, including the Rose-Croix and Noachite rituals. Aapprox. 18 × 10 cm, 166 pp., patterned paper wrappers printed with leaf motifs. This clandestine publication, bearing the fictitious imprint “À Jérusalem; Sur une haute montagne, aux dépens de la loge de Saint Jean,” was printed in France or Switzerland around 1766–1770. It belongs to the lineage of the 18th-century Masonic revelations that began to circulate after the 1740s, disclosing the rituals and hierarchical symbolism of secret lodges. The text claims to be a translation “from the English” for the Rose-Croix and “from the German” for the Noachite degrees, reflecting the cross-fertilization between British and Continental Masonry during the Enlightenment. The book opens with an Histoire de l’origine de la Maçonnerie, linking the Order’s foundation myth to Godefroy de Bouillon and the Crusades. The following chapters detail seven ritual grades, complete with descriptions of lodge ornaments, symbolic catechisms, moral allegories, and initiation ceremonies. Good condition.