Esthétique

Best.-Nr. 47225 — Chicago : Printed by Knight & Leonard 105 107 and 109 Madison Street 1876 . Fourth edition. A very good original cloth binding. 8vo. 8.0" x 6.25" x 0.5". pp.145 . Green cloth over bevelled boards edges rubbed and corners bumped. Rubbed gilt titles to front board. Light discolouration to lower corner of front board. Original brown endpapers. Previous owner's signature to front free-endpaper: "W. M. La Fiorce Gold Hill Nev 1875". Clean text throughout. VG. " Rob Morris was a prominent American poet and Freemason. He also created the first ritual for what was to become the Order of the Eastern Star. Many references state that Rob Morris was born on August 31 1818 near Boston Massachusetts. However there is some evidence that he was born Robert Williams Peckham in New York and that he adopted the name of his foster parents after the death of his birth parents later shortening his name to Rob to avoid confusion with another poet named Robert Morris. After he became a Mason on March 5 1846 he became convinced that there needed to be a way for female relatives of Masons to share in some measure in the benefits of Freemasonry. While teaching at the Eureka Masonic College "The Little Red Brick School Building" in Richland Mississippi in 1849-1850 he wrote Eastern Star's first ritual titled The Rosary of the Eastern Star. He organized a "Supreme Constellation" in 1845 to charter Star chapters. In 1866 because of his planned travel abroad he handed over the organizational authority of Eastern Star to Robert Macoy. Over the years he wrote over 400 poems many of which were devoted to Eastern Star and Masonry. While traveling in the Holy Land he wrote the words to the hymn "O Galilee". In 1854 he wrote "The Level and the Square" which may be his best-known poem. Because of his many works on Masonic subjects on December 17 1884 he was crowned the "Poet Laureate of Freemasonry" an honor which had not been granted since the death of Robert Burns in 1796. His health began to fail in 1887 and in June 1888 he became paralyzed. He died on July 31 1888 and is buried at La Grange Kentucky. The Rob Morris Home is kept as a shrine to Rob Morris by the Kentucky Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star." - See Wikipedia . Chicago : Printed by Knight & Leonard, 105, 107, and 109 Madison Street, 1876 . hardcover