Our Notes & References

A rare Russo-English text defending and promoting English Freemasons and criticising the French. Apparently no copies in UK libraries, and none traced at auctions.

OCLC locates three holdings (Stanford, and two in Amsterdam: the University and the International Institute of Social History), to which we can add copies at Bibliothèque russe Tourguenev and in Russia (RGB, RNB, and the President’s Library).

This informative brochure was published by the Circle of Russian Freemasons in England with the aim “to respond to the accusations that are constantly levelled at the brotherhood and which, in most cases, are entirely unfounded”, and eventually to “demonstrate the significant role that Freemasonry plays, and can play, in strengthening and enriching contemporary culture” (our translation here and below). The authors emphasise that the information provided relates solely to English Freemasonry, “not to so-called French Freemasonry or that of other Latin countries […] which took a completely different path […] due to the influence of the somewhat tyrannical Catholic Church”. French Freemasons are associated with negative revolutionary, atheistic, and Jewish activists. The discussion of English Freemasonry includes mentions of the less-known Scottish Rite, one of the organisations governing meetings of the higher degrees of a Masonic lodge.

The chapters explore “Some questions and doubts that Russians may have regarding Freemasonry”; “The nature of modern Freemasonry”; “Freemasonry and chivalric orders”; and “The origins of Freemasonry”. The final two chapters focus on the history of Freemasonry in Russia—even stating that Nicholas II was a member of one of the lodges—and “A note on the current state of Freemasonry worldwide (1927)”, with statistical data on the number of lodges and members. The statistical majority belongs to the US, followed by the British Isles (England, Ireland, Scotland), Europe, Australasia, Canada, Central and South America, and Africa. The text is followed by a list of bibliographical sources.

It is worth noting the unusual character of this text in the Russian émigré community post-Revolution, which was much more prolific with anti-masonic texts.

Provenance

From the estate of Avenir Nizoff (émigré, pianist, who lived in Edmonton, Canada, in the second half of the 20^th century, and gathered a large, wide-ranging library of Russian works, especially covering art, history and literature).