DescriptionAn anonymous Masonic exposé attributed to the Abbé Larudan, originally published in 1747 under the title, “Les Francs-Maçons écrasés” (The Freemasons Crushed). This German edition was published twenty-three years later, in 1770 under the title, "Allerneuste Geheimniße der Freymäurer, deren Sitten und Gebräuche bey ihren Versammlungen und Aufnehmen der Brüder, Diener, Lehrlinge, Gesellen, Meister, u. Obermeister." (The Latest Secrets of the Freemasons, their manners and customs at their meetings and receiving the brothers, apprentices, journeymen, masters and senior masters.) Larudan’s work fills considerable space regaling the reader of the fallacious Masonic origin story involving the 17th-century Protestant reformer, Oliver Cromwell. There is no reference to the perennially famous third degree, but there is one about a fourth. Owing to the early date and location of the original French publication, one might surmise that this degree would be that of the Scots Master and not one from the Order of Strict Observance, which was founded ten years later in 1754. Dr. Önnerfors noted that by 1770, the information within the German translation would have been outdated and a hindrance to an investigation into the secrets of Freemasonry. Although it is a facsimile of a famous older book, this version can remind us of how Freemasonry has historically fascinated the public and was a quick sell. Moreover, popular culture overlapped with the interests of Freemasons, who often purchased these books to learn their rituals. Perhaps this might explain why even a copy of older material might hold an interest twenty-three years after its first printing. The fold-out prints are compelling and in good condition. Alas, they are also copies of those printed in “L’Ordre des Francs-Maçons Trahi et le Secret des Mopses révélé” (the Order of Freemasons Betrayed and the Secret of the Mopses revealed*) first published in 1745 by Gabriel-Louis Calabre Pérau. Quoting the Masonic scholars, Eugen Lennhoff and Oskar Posner, the Wolfsteig index states: German adaptation of the famous “Franc-Maçons écrasés,” published anonymously. - “Got through numerous editions. Kloß already points out that this book is the armory for most attacks on Freemasonry. In particular, L. [Larudan] tries to assert that it was invented by Oliver Cromwell for the purpose of fighting the Stuarts and their Catholic army, so I have tendencies directed against throne and altar” (Lennhoff/Posner 902).