History of the Most Ancient Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons in New York From the Earliest Date: Embracing the History of the Grand Lodge of the State, From Its Formation in 1781, and a Sketch of Each Lodge Under Its Jurisdiction.

MCCLENACHAN, Charles. [Edward M. L. Ehlers].

$1,250.00

Item Number: 133064

New York: Published by the Grand Lodge, 1888-1894.

First edition of McClenachan’s important history of the order of Free and Accepted Masons. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated with tissue-guarded engravings including frontispiece to each volume. Presentation set, inscribed by Edward M. L. Ehlers on the fly-leaf ov volumes I, II, and III,  “To JM Cheesman Compliments EML Ehlers Grand Secretary.” Edward M. L. Ehlers served as Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of New York for thirty-five years (1882-1917) under the administration of twenty-two Grand Masters. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, carved a bust portrait of Ehlers which remains on permanent display at the The Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library in New York. In near fine condition. Scarce, with only two other copies traced at auction in the past century.

The largest and oldest independent organization of Freemasons in the state of New York, The Grand Lodge of New York was founded in 1781. It is not known when the first Freemason set foot in the American colony of New York, but the first documented presence dates from the mid-1730s, when Daniel Coxe Jr. (1673–1739), was appointed by the Duke of Norfolk, the Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, to act as a Provincial Grand Master for the provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. McClenachan's History of the Most Ancient Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons in New York covers the History of the Grand Lodge of New York from its formation as well as an important account of early masonry in England, Scotland, Ireland with an account of the origin of Freemasonry in the thirteen colonies of the Union.