PHILALETHES. - Rare and precious set of about... - Lot 103 - Pescheteau-Badin

PHILALETHES. - Rare and precious set of about 80 pieces, mostly handwritten. 1774-1780 and n.d. Good overall condition despite some dampening; some pieces with pronounced dampening. The "ACADEMIE OCCULTE" DES LUMIERES, LE REGIME MAÇONNIQUE DES PHILALETHES is a system of philosophical or mystical Masonry, which was founded at the suggestion of the Marquis de Savalette in the Parisian Lodge Les Amis réunis, composed of intellectuals, financiers and court lords. This grouping (twelfth class of the Lodge, "AXIIR") was marked by Scottishism and had adopted a theosophy based on the theories of Martinez and Swedenborg. In 1775, the Marquis de Savalette had set up a commission with the mission of drawing up a plan to arrive at knowledge of the truth: truly constituted as a back-Loge in 1780, this commission had nonetheless begun its work from 1778 onwards, with its main activity the gathering of first-rate manuscript and printed documentation intended to collect in Masonic catechisms still-recognizable traces of ancient knowledge that had fallen into oblivion. The aim was to create a veritable "encyclopedia of initiation", the knowledge of which would confer initiation. The Philalèthes defined themselves as "a system of researchers which, by its essential nature, could not be adopted by Lodges, & was absolutely communicable only to individuals because it is inseparable from its archives" (Pierre Mollier). They solicited and attracted numerous memberships from Lodges and personalities in France and Europe, such as Mesmer, Lavater, Joseph de Maistre and Saint-Martin, and tried unsuccessfully to associate themselves with Cagliostro, whose acceptance was conditional on the destruction of their books and manuscripts. The Marquis de Savalette's ambition was to re-found Masonry, and he organized two convents to this end, the first in 1785 and the second in 1787. The proposed method of analyzing the very foundations of Masonic science, as well as rivalries between Masonic orders, led to failure and many defections. The Régime des Philalèthes nevertheless continued until at least 1791, but was swept away by the Revolution and the death of the Marquis de Savalette in 1797. His archives and library were then abandoned and found their way to a Parisian bookseller, where they were largely acquired for the archives of the Scottish Philosophical Rite, between 1806 and 1809. - MANUSCRIPTED RITUALS for initiation into various grades, receptions and ceremonies. Approximately 30 booklets in various formats, sometimes illustrated: "Sublime Grade des Chevaliers Philosophes d'Hermès"; "Chevalier du Soleil ou des Adeptes"; "Chevalier de la Triple Croix"; "Maître de la Grande Lumière"; "Chevalier de l'Aigle du Pélican ou Rose-Croix"; "Chevalier de l'Orient"; "Chevalier d'Athènes"; "Grand Empereur d'Orient"; "Prince of Jerusalem"; "Commandeur du Temple"; "Réception des Grands Inquisiteurs de l'Ordre"; "Formulaire de la Tenue du Chapitre"; etc. - MASONIC AND HERMETIC MANUSCRIPTS. Some twenty notebooks in various formats, sometimes substantial, some illustrated: "Réflexions sur le but de la Maçonnerie"; "Instructions pour le Frère Député des A[mis] R[éunis] au Convent de Willhelmsbad"; "Rite de la Grnde Loge de France"; "Histoire des Écossais"; "Code général des Règlemens de l'ordre des Chevaliers Bienfaisans"; "Introduction pour la première classe du vénérable Ordre de la Rose-Croix d'or"; "Les Constitutions d'Anderson"; "Clavicule de Science Hermétique"; "Clavicule de Salomon"; "Cours de philosophie hermétique"; "Tractatus mago-cabalistico-chymicus et theosophicus"; "OEuvres philosophiques d'Hermès", etc. - TABLEAUX ALPHABETIQUES DES FRERES ET CORRESPONDANCES, concernant les Amis Réunis de Paris eux-mêmes, les Loges de La Parfaite Union de Besançon et de L'Amitié de Strasbourg. 1774-1780. - KORTUM (Ernst von)]. Projet d'un code général de police, pour l'O[rdre] des F[rancs] M[açons] Réunis et Rectifiés. [Weimar, offprints from the private presses of Johann Joachim Christoph Bode], 1783. With note from a member of the Les Amis Réunis Lodge in Paris indicating that it is a loan from Bode). Ernst von Kortum, whose order name was Eques a Fonte Irriguo, represented the Swedish Rite of the Duke of Sudermania. - MESMER (Franz-Anton) AND MESMERISM. Set of 8 items, one handwritten and 7 printed: MESMER (Franz Anton). Letter from M. Mesmer to M. le comte de C***. S.l.n.n., [1784]. First edition. Apologie pro domo in response to Lavoisier and Franklin qu