Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

A Meeting of Free Masons for the Admission of Masters
1812
Thomas Palser, publisher (active 1799-1843)
England: London
Engraving with multi-colored washes on paper
sheet: 9"h x 13"w
Special Acquisitions Fund
77.10.1f

A Meeting of Free Masons for the Admission of Masters engraving; scene shows Master raising Candidate across bottom; figures are identified: "1 The Master, 2 Senior Warden, 3 Junior Warden, 4 Candidate, 5 Orator, 6 Treasurer, 7 Secretary"; Plate 7 "A Meeting of Free Masons for the Admission of Masters/ The Master on raising the Candidate gives the Grasp, Embrace, Etc. and declares him duly Elected/ a Master Mason/ Published March 1, 1812 by Thos Palser, Surry Side, Westminster Bridge."

This print, part of a Masonic expose first published in the mid-1700s and subsequently reissued for a British audience by a London publisher with illustrations by a different artist in 1812, shows Masons at a meeting wearing small, plain aprons with rounded flaps and edges. The illustrated aprons are mid-thigh length. This apron size and shape gained popularity in the late 1700s and early 1800s. For further information, Newell, Aimee E., "The Badge of a Freemason," 2015. p.16-17, Fig. 6