Overview

The Constitutions of the Freemasons by Dr. James Anderson, published in 1723, is the most famous Masonic book in the world. It has been translated into many foreign languages, has been the subject of considerable examination and comment over the years, and has been reproduced many times. With the passage of time it has become universally recognized as the basic law book of Freemasonry. It is significant that the first Masonic book to be published in the Western Hemisphere was the 1723 edition of Anderson's book, by Benjamin Franklin, in 1734. A facsimile of Franklin's book was the second volume to be published by The Masonic Book Club, in 1971 together with the differences listed between the original and Franklin's edition. It is worthy of note that the 1723 and the 1738 editions of the Constitutions were issued by Anderson as a private venture, and were not the official publications of the Grand Lodge of England. On February 24, 1735 the Grand Lodge of England acknowledged that the book belonged to Ander son. It has been stated on several occasions that both editions were a private financial project of Anderson. But the Grand Lodge did lend some authority to the volumes, since the 1738 edition stated that on January 25, 1738, the Grand Master, the Deputy Grand Alaster, and the Wardens ordered Anderson, the author, to print and publish ""our new Book of Constitutions, which they recommend as the only Book for the use of the Lodges."" Original copies of the 1723 edition of this book exist in far greater number than the 1738 edition. Furthermore, the. 1723 edition has been reproduced many times; it became easily accessible to Masons in the United States when it was reproduced in facsimile form in the various editions of the Little Masonic Library. Volume 7 of the Quatuor Coronatorum Antigrapha contains a facsimile of the 1738 edition with an introduction by William J. Hughan. But this volume has been out-of-print for many years and is very rare in the United States. In 1977 Quatuor Coronati Lodge published a volume with facsimiles of both Constitutions; this was the first time that the 1723 and the 1738 editions have appeared in the same volume.

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