Description: Apologetic work defending the secretive nature and purpose of Freemasonry, by an anonymous member of the Order, probably Johann Lorenz Natter (1705-1763). Includes two engraved Masonic songs composed by "le Frère Américain," who is Benjamin Franklin, according to musicologist Alberto Basso. Third edition, enlarged by the author, with the first edition appearing in 1742. Engraved frontispiece. Title page in red and black. Bound in contemporary sprinkled wrappers, with title in manuscript on label applied to spine. Octavo; 7 x 4.5 inches; [14], 126, [2] pages, [3] leaves of plates; )(^8 ( -)(8) A-H^8. Wrappers worn and soiled with losses to spine covering, dampstaining to first few leaves, small ink annotation at head of title page, and general age-toning. A Good copy of this interesting early Masonic publication. Authorship of the text and music has been wrongly attributed in the past to M. Nougaret or F. Nogaret and J. Naudot, respectively. References: - Basso, Alberto. L'invenzione della gioia: musica e massoneria nell'eta dei lumi. Milano: Garzanti, 1994. - Wolfstieg, A. Bibliographie der freimaurerischen Literatur, 23736.
