THE ARCANE SCHOOLS; A REVIEW OF THEIR ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY; WITH A GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY, AND ITS RELATION TO THE THEOSOPHIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC MYSTERIES
Book Details + Condition: Scarce first edition from 1909 of THE ARCANE SCHOOLS; A REVIEW OF THEIR ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY; WITH A GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY, AND ITS RELATION TO THE THEOSOPHIC, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHIC MYSTERIES. By John Yarker; published by William Tait (Belfast). 566 pages. Original royal blue cloth boards, with gilt title and reverse swastika on spine. Contents include: Archaic Legends; Aryan Civilization and Mysteries; The Mysteries in Relation to Philosophy; Masonic Rites; Mystic and Hermetic Schools in Christian Times; Masonry in Britain, Saxon England, and Norman Times; Freemasonry in Modern Times; and much more. John Yarker (1833-1913) was an English Freemason; this work is his somewhat unconventional history of Freemasonry, tracing it from remote antiquity, through the mystery and hermetic schools to modern times, arguing that throughout a an authentic Mystery Tradition was maintained and passed on. Aleister Crowley reviewed the work with uncharacteristically high praise in a 1910 issue of 'The Equinox,' stating that Yarker had "abundantly proved his main point, the true antiquity of some Masonic system. It is a parallel to Frazer's tracing the history of the Slain God." The aging Yarker welcomed Crowley enthusiastically, granting him high degrees in a number of the 'fringe' Masonic Rites over which he had control. In very good condition: tight binding; bumped and rubbed corners and spine ends; some shelfwear to boards, with a small rubbed out white bit on bottom spine. Text is clean and unmarked, save writing on front blank endpaper, dated 1922, from two separate lodges - it appears as though this was part of their respective libraries. The book includes an insert advertisement (in excellent preserved condition) of Yarker's next work (presumably after this publication), of The Ancient Constitutional Charges of the Guild Free Masons (1909).
