365 - Occulta - Starck, Johann August von. Saint Nicaise, or a Collection of Curious Masonic Letters, for Freemasons and Those Who Are Not. Translated from the French. With an engraved title vignette. Frankfurt, Fleischer, 1785. 4 leaves, 360 pp. 19 x 12 cm. Later half-parchment binding.

Occulta - Starck, Johann August von. Saint Nicaise, or a Collection of Curious Masonic Letters, for Freemasons and Those Who Are Not. Translated from the French. With an engraved title vignette. Frankfurt, Fleischer, 1785. 4 leaves, 360 pp. 19 x 12 cm. Later half-parchment binding. Wolfstieg 33448. — First edition, published anonymously and purportedly “translated from the French,” but in fact a “German original. Never published in French. A novel directed against the Strict Observance and its superiors (namely von Hund and Schubart).” (Wolfstieg), which received a second printing in 1786 and provoked a response from Christian Friedrich Kessler (known as “von Sprengseysen”), who published it in Leipzig in 1786 under the title: “Anti-Saint-Nicaise. A Tournament in the 18th Century, Held by Two Knights of the Temple as Something for Freemasons and Those Who Are Not.” – Untrimmed. – Old owner’s inscription on title page; some slight staining on the outer margins. *