First published in 1866, by Malcolm C. Duncan, “Duncan’s Ritual of Freemasonry” provides a fascinating glimpse into the rights and rituals of this secretive organization. Duncan did not write this guide to shine light on Masonry for outsiders, but rather to help new members navigate the complex organization. As he states in the Preface: “The purpose of this work is not so much to gratify the curiosity of the uninitiated as to furnish a guide for the neophytes of the Order, by means of which their progress from grade to grade may be facilitated. Every statement in the book is authentic, as every proficient Mason will admit to himself, if not to be public, as he turns over its pages. The non-Masonic reader, as he peruses them, will perhaps be puzzled to imagine why matters of so little real importance to society at large should have been so industriously concealed for centuries, and still more surprised that society should have been so extremely inquisitive about them.” This definitive guide, still in use since the nineteenth-century, includes the first three degrees of the “Ancient York Right”, as well as four advanced degrees and elaborates on the many symbols, images, and physical gestures that a Freemason must know.
