[FREEMASONRY]. LENOIR (Alexandre)]. Freemasonry returned to its true origin, or the antiquity of Freemasonry proven by the explanation of ancient and modern mysteries. By Alexandre Lenoir...with ten plates, Paris, Fournier, October 1814. In-4, 4ff. - 302pp. - 1 f. of table, with 7 engraved plates (out of 10, missing the plates p. 42, p. 52 and p. 244), the large folding plate "Procession in honour of the goddess Isis" is well present p. 127. Havana half-basane with corners, spine with 5 nerves (damaged), boards covered with paper with glue, boards rubbed and damaged, top board detached. Size: 230 x 180 mm. Annotated copy. One of the rarest Masonic works with the folding plate of the procession in honour of Isis, which is very often missing. It also contains the following two large folding plates: "Hieroastronomical, physical and astrological system of ancient peoples" and "Iconological planisphere of the signs and their decans". Alexandre Lenoir develops the idea of oriental origins, especially Egyptian, of Freemasonry and rejects the interpretation of hieroglyphs of Champollion in favor of a Freemasonic reading. Creator, in 1795, of the Royal Museum of French Monuments, curator of the objects of art of Malmaison, Alexandre Lenoir (1761-1839) gave in 1812 eight presentations before the members of the Scottish Mother Lodge, on the relationship of the mysteries of Egypt and ancient Greece with the Masonic initiation. These presentations inspired him this work, published in October 1814: "To prove the antiquity of Freemasonry, its origin, its mysteries and its relationship with ancient mythologies, I will go back to the Egyptians, I will develop the mysteries of their religion, and I will make known their main deities ... " Dorbon 6137 "The most beautiful and one of the rarest works on the subject ... " . - Caillet 6504 - Fesch, p. 840. See: D . Poulot, "L'Égypte imaginaire d'Alexandre Lenoir", in L'Égypte imaginaire de la Renaissance à Champollion, under the direction of Ch. Grell. Paris, 2001.