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, edges and spine ends; some shelfwear to boards; text is clean and unmarked. There are repaired tears to many of the pages' top edging (with a few little bits taken out of the side edges of some pages). These tears happened naturally when the pages were separated (they were all initially uncut).
