The Mystagogue, or the Origin of Ancient Mysteries and Hieroglyphs

Kil 21,40 Handwritten library shelf mark.

40 (Her[r]mann, Joseph Gottlieb, also known as Eichhörnl) German: "Eichhörnl" translates to "Little Squirrel." The Mystagogue A person who initiates others into religious mysteries or interprets sacred symbols. or On the Origin and Genesis of all Mysteries and Hieroglyphs of the Ancients that relate to Freemasonry, derived and sought from the oldest sources by a true Freemason. Osnabrück and Hamm, Perrenon, 1789. 4 leaves, 319 pages. 20 x 11.5 cm. Contemporary half-leather binding with 5 bands, with gilt spine and yellow spine label; red edges all around. 620.– The price is likely in Marks or a similar currency from the time of the catalog's printing.

HB 3, 5675; Wolfstieg 4868; Meusel 9, 269 (under the name: Mortezini); These are standard bibliographical reference codes for Masonic and historical literature. the author (born 1742), an "Electoral Saxon Referring to the Electorate of Saxony, a state within the Holy Roman Empire. deserter" and "adventurer" who "committed all sorts of swindles" under many assumed names and "understood how to deceive the whole world and swindle his way through everywhere through rare audacity" (Wurzbach) Constantin von Wurzbach, author of a famous 60-volume biographical encyclopedia. provides proof in the present work (the preface of which he signs as [Franz Joseph] Pallini), among other things, that the Masonic Order is the continuation of the ancient mysteries in a changed form; he also provides a history of the origin of this order.