The Early History Of Freemasonry In England. By James Orchard Halliwell, Esq., F.R.S. Second Edition.

London: John Russell Smith, 4, Old Compton Street, Soho Square. M.DCCC.XLIV. [ 1844 ].. A very good tight binding. 12mo. 8" x 5". Original dark brown cloth covered boards, but preserving the original printed label to the front board. Inner hinges carefully strengthened. Original yellow endpapers, lightly soiled. Frontispiece: "Fac-simile of the first page of an ancient poem on Masonry..." Followed by printed title. Text ends with a four page Glossary of ancient English words. Bound with a 24 pages of adverts for: "Valuable and Interesting Books Published Or Sold By John Russell Smith..." . Clean text throughout, just the odd page chip or corner crease. A very good copy of this scarce publication. ** "James Orchard Halliwell (1820-1889), published over 600 books during his life, ranging from 16-page monographs, many of which first appeared as magazine articles, to a 14-volume commentary on Shakespeare. Born on June 21, 1820, Halliwell was the youngest of 4 children of a successful leathercraftsman and merchant. One of his older brothers became a lawyer, a profession James was to have frequent dealings with over the years. The young Halliwell was noted as a mathematical prodigy. He also had a special interest in collecting medieval manuscripts, at that time still plentiful and cheap at ordinary booksellers. He combined these two traits in his writing, and at 16 was producing a column of brief biographies of scientists (mainly mathematicians) for his school paper. These included such greats as Isaac Newton, Roger Bacon, Ren� Descartes, and Archimedes; and also Charles Butler, a notable mathematician, but also Halliwell's mentor before he went on to the University. And also Euclid of Alexandria, a biography that probably influenced his brief appearance in Masonic lore..." - see Masonic Poets *** " [The Halliwell Poem] ...It was first published in 1840 by Mr James Orchard Halliwell, a non-Mason, under the title �A Poem on the Constitutions of Masonry�. Mr Halliwell used the only known existing manuscript copy of the original that was kept in the King�s Library of the British Museum; before that it belonged to a well-known collector of the seventeenth century, Charles Theyer. Most experts believe that this manuscript originates from between 1425 and 1450, and Mr Halliwell says that it was copied in 1390. A few other people even believe that it is a transcript of the Book of Constitutions adopted by the General Assembly held in York in 926, but this seems very unlikely. The manuscript is in rhythmic verses, has 794 lines, and the language is very archaic even in relation to other manuscripts of this period..." - see An Outsider�s View of Freemasonry by Giles C. H. Nullens .