ANNALES MAÇ∴ À Paris, chez Caillot, 1807-1809. 7 volumes in- - Lot 43

ANNALES MAÇ∴ À Paris, chez Caillot, 1807-1809. 7 volumes in-18, ornate brown half-basane (binding circa 1820). I: 251-(one) pp. - II: 252 pp. - III: 252 pp. - IV: 252 pp. - V: 251-(one) pp. - VI: 251-(one blank) pp. - VII: 252 pp. with faux-titre counting pp. 1-2 missing from vol. II; spines uniformly faded, 3 angular paper losses in 1st vol. including one affecting a few words, marginal wetness in vols. I, II, III and VII; 2 ff. bound at end of vol. III from another work. HEAD OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION COLLECTION OF THIS VERY RARE MASONIC PERIODICAL, of which an eighth volume appeared in 1809. The editor, a mason who had attained the rank of Rose Croix, dedicated it to Cambacérès, Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Orient and true leader of French Masonry under the First Empire. These issues of the Annales maçonniques, to which personalities such as Félix de Nogaret collaborated, include historical, philosophical and moral texts on Freemasonry, as well as pieces bearing witness to the work of Lodges, notably minutes of Masonic feasts and ceremonies, such as the installation of Roëttiers de Montaleau fils as private representative of the Grand Master of the Grand Orient, funeral orations (e.g. those of Roëttiers de Montaleau père and George Washington), and verse pieces. INCLUDES THE FIRST EDITION OF LA TRES SAINTE TRINOSOPHIE, a Masonically inspired alchemical novel traditionally attributed to the Comte de Saint-Germain (vol. V, pp. 5-45).