‎STARCK, JOHANN AUGUST.‎
‎Über den Zweck des Freymaurerordens.‎

‎Germanien, 1781. 8vo. In contemporary (original?) blank blue boards with leather title-label to spine. Wear and scratches to binding. Internally with light occassional brownspotting. Title-page with blue handcoloured frame. (12), 240, (1) pp.‎

Reference : 63004

‎Scarce first edition of one of the rarer works by Johann August Starck (1741–1816), German Protestant theologian, orientalist, philosopher and court preacher, who became one of the most controversial figures in the intellectual debates surrounding Freemasonry in the late eighteenth century. Connected with Freemasonry from the early 1760ies he founded a Masonic lodge in Königsberg in 1770 and developed a distinctive Masonic system known as the “Clericate,” which incorporated elements of Catholic ritual and later became associated with the influential high-degree system of the Strict Observance. (See Deutsche Biographie). Wolfstieg 2019. ‎