‎(LEPRINCE DE BEAUMONT)‎
‎L'adepte moderne, ou le vrai secret des franc-macons, Histoire intéressante.‎

‎Londres, aux dépens de l'auteur, (1755). 8vo. In contemporary (original?) blank red boards. Paper on spine cracked and spine-ends with loss of paper. End-paper with a few annotations. Title-page with repair, with loss of a few letter to the imprint. With light occassional brownspotting throughout. (2), 229 pp.‎

Reference : 63037

‎A novel that makes the Freemasons the guardians of the alchemical secret. According to Wolfstieg (no. 41487), it was printed in 1777. Wolfstieg thought it was a French translation of “Der neue Goldmacher”, first published in a collection in 1757. However, a study by Mme V. G. Mylne demonstrates that “Der neue Goldmacher” is in fact a translation of this present “L’adepte moderne”, and not the other way around. The date of 1755 has sometimes been suggested due to internal dating elements in the text, but this is more likely to give an indication of when it was written than when it was published. (See Mylne: The Bibliographer's Last Resort: Reading the Text) Wolfsteig 41487‎