1869 Bulletin De La Maconnerie Louisianaise - Freemasonry - Free Men of Color

Description

"We noticed, with the greatest satisfaction, that faithful to their principles of Fraternity, the Scottish Masons belonging to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council made no distinction of race or color. Two of the officers who presided over the ceremony yesterday belong to the colored population, and nothing, either in the temple or in the formation of the procession, indicated the slightest trace of prejudices which unfortunately still exist in certain societies claiming to be linked to the universal masonry."
BULETIN
DE LA
MACONNERIE LOUISIANAISE,
ORGANE OFFICIEL
DU
SUPREME CONSEIL
DE LA LOUISIANE.
[Bulletin of Louisiana Masonry, Official Organ of the Supreme Council of Louisiana]
Eugène Chassaignac, Editor.
NOUVELLE-ORLEANS:
TYPOGRAPHIE OFFICIELLE DU SUPREME CONSEIL, 48 rue Conti - PREMIÈRE SÉRIE - AVRIL-MAI 1869 - N° 1.
First Edition. French text. Rare 8vo. Apparently the only published issue.
OCLC 4813756.
40 pages. Dedicated
"TO THE GLORY OF THE GREAT ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE."
Original yellow wrappers, stitched, exhibiting minimal edgewear, bite out of top corner throughout (not affecting text), penned inscription at head of lower cover - textblock evenly toned with agespots throughout, else clear and unmarked - an exceptional copy, entirely uncut.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Subscription information at lower cover,
"Each issue sold separately for 50 cents, either at the General Secretariat, rue Bourbon No. 57, or at F. A. Simon, bookseller, 94 passage de la Bourse."
Includes the ordinance Chassaignac (1820-1878), Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite Lodge, attempted to have enacted in 1867, granting men of color admittance into the society - followed by excerpts of opinions of the press, correspondence with notable personalities, including French author Victor Hugo, and letters of approval from various lodges around the world concerning the radical reform he proposed.
"The name of the Grand Commander is a thousand times deserved testimony of the feelings of esteem and admiration that recognized Brothers profess towards him, who wish to perpetuate the memory and the name of one who has accomplished, with total zeal and energy, an immense task, in the midst of innumerable obstacles. They must be proud, in fact, of their beloved Grand Commander, because he laid the first stone of an immense temple under the roof of which will come to shelter, in the United States, the Brothers of all faiths, of all countries, of all colors. It pleased the Great Architect of the Universe to entrust him with this noble mission."
According to H. L. Haywood:
"To all full-time students of Masonic history, Louisiana has in it more satisfactions for the intellect than most of the forty-nine American Grand Jurisdictions. From 1791 until the present it has been a laboratory in which the questions which a Masonic historian is compelled to study have been submitted to all manner of tests. You can see them actually at work, and how they work out; elsewhere he must study them more or less as abstractions. The history of Freemasonry in the city of New Orleans is the history of the city of New Orleans, as many of its members contributed to the economic, educational, political and cultural advancement throughout the history of the City."