[ABRAHAM (Antoine-Firmin)]. Mirror of truth, dedicated to al - Lot 28

[ABRAHAM (Antoine-Firmin)]. Mirror of truth, dedicated to all Masons. À Paris, chez le F∴ Abraham, l'an de la V∴ L∴ 5800-5802 [1800-1802]. 35 issues bound in 3 in-8 volumes with a title page at the head of each volume, a composite copy in ornate half basane (the first 2 volumes in period bindings, the last in bindings circa 1820). I: 392-16 pp. - II: 384 pp. or: 6 pp. uncounted, 4 pp. miscounted i to v, and 374 pp. counted 11 to 384; in regular pagination, but with sometimes incorrect numbering of issues and quires; quire 17 in duplicate - III: 340 pp. - Bindings rubbed, a few tears without missing except at the corner of one leaf; handwritten mention scratched on the title of vol. III First edition of this Masonic periodical. After an interruption, a few more issues appeared in 1805, now virtually unobtainable. Extremely rare. Edited by Antoine-Firmin Abraham, this periodical includes a large number of articles by his pen: scientific, philosophical and numerological texts, notes on the history of Freemasonry, presentations of various points of Masonic doctrine and practice, reflections on Scottishism (mainly in Volume III), criticism of the French Rite elaborated by the Grand Orient from 1773 onwards, and criticism of the latter's attitude towards the High Ranks (creation within it of the Grand Chapitre général de France), notes on Brother Jean Mathéus, importer to France of the Heredom Rite, etc. It also includes texts from civil authorities, the Grand Orient and various French and foreign Lodges, as well as reports on Masonic festivals (notably in celebration of the Peace of Amiens), funerals, poems and speeches by various other Masons. A DEFENDER OF ECOSSISM AND OPPOSITE TO THE CENTRALIZING POLICY OF THE GRAND ORIENT, ANTOINE-FIRMIN ABRAHAM (1753-1818), a military administrator by trade, was founder and Venerable of the Les Élèves de la Nature Lodge and later of the Les Élèves de Minerve Lodge. The Lodges that followed him in his defense of the autonomy of Scottish workshops, principally Les Élèves de la nature or La Réunion des étrangers in Paris, La Parfaite Union in Douai, the Mère-Loge Écossaise in Marseille, and the Chapitre provincial d'Heredom de Kilwinning in Rouen, were declared irregular by the Grand Orient in 1802.