Ahiman Rezon: or, a Help to a Brother. Shewing, the Excellency of Secrecy, and the first Cause of the Institution of Freemasonry; the Principles of the Craft ... The Fifth Edition, with Additions

VERY INFLUENTIAL EDITION OF A MASONIC CLASSIC
HIGH POINT IN MASONIC INVOLVEMENT IN 'PATRIOT' POLITICS
A MAJOR TROVE OF 18TH CENTURY VERSE
[Full title] Ahiman Rezon: or, a Help to a Brother. Shewing, the Excellency of Secrecy, and the first Cause of the Institution of Freemasonry; the Principles of the Craft, and the Benefits arising from a strict Observance thereof; the Sort of Men that ought to be initiated into the Mystery, and the Kind of Masons that are fit to govern Lodges, with their proper Behaviour in and out of the Lodge. The ancient Manner of Constituting new Lodges, with all the Charges, &c. Likewise the Prayers used in Jewish and Christian Lodges. Also, the Old and New Regulations, the Manner of choosing and installing Grand-Master and Officers, &c. To which is added, a Large Collection of Masons Songs, entertaining Prologues and Epilogues, and Solomon's Temple: An Oratorio. By Brother Laurence Dermott, Sec. The Fifth Edition, with Additions.
first edition thus 12mo. xxiii, [1 (list of lodge Members, Mar. 1782)], [2 (list of additional members Oct. 1783 & a blank)], 192pp., including the extensive half-title (a brief list of contents), contemporary mottled calf, red morocco label gilt, free endpapers removed, title label chipped, stitching strained and 1 gathering almost sprung, some light internal dustiness and fingering, binding bit worn, else generally very good. Rare.

ESTC t85408 locating copies only in B.L., Linen Hall Belfast, Polish Academy (defective), Kansas and Washington State.
There is another issue with the printer's name "Magee" rendered as "Mages" on the title page [vide ESTC t167292 located at Cambridge and N.L.I. (defective) only].
This rare edition was highly influential in Ulster Volunteering 'Patriot' politics as well as in Irish Masonic development.Dermott (1720 - 1791) was born in Ireland, apparently from a Catholic background, but the details of his birthplace and parentage are unknown. He was initiated into the masons in Dublin in 1740, moved to London about 1750, and was elected grand secretary of the 'Antient' masons in 1752. The Duke of Atholl appointed him deputy grand master of the Antient masons in 1771 and he held that position until 1787. The success of the Atholl or Antient masons was mainly due to his zeal. This book, first published in 1756, is "arguably the most influential masonic book ever published" [Mirala] and its format was copied by other lodges. "Little is known of Dermott's life apart from his masonic activities. He is thought to have been in the employment of a master painter shortly after his arrival in London and later to have set himself up as a wine merchant in the City of London" [O.D.N.B.].
Amyas Griffith (b. Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, 1746), one of the most colourful authors of the eighteenth century, combined employment in the excise service with various literary activities promoting progressive ideas. When he arrived in Belfast as Surveyor of Excise in 1780 during the Volunteering enthusiasm "he single handedly created a revival of freemasonry" [Stewart] through his reviving of Lodge 257 to become the famous Volunteering 'Belfast Orange Lodge' and through his publication of this "highly influential" [Mirala] 1782 Belfast edition of Ahiman Rezon of which he was probably the editor. Prior to the later formation in the 1790s of the Orange Order 'Orange' Lodge did not necessarily indicate ultra-Protestant leanings and into it Griffith "managed to recruit everyone that mattered in or near Belfast - peers, gentry, merchants and ministers, all brought together by [his] organizational skill and showmanship" [Mirala, p.162]. The reorganization of Orange Lodge 257 and "the publication of the Belfast Ahiman Rezon were the high points so far as masonic involvement in 'patriot' politics" [Mirala] were concerned. The membership of the lodge included some who were later United Irishmen and some who later opposed such radicalism, but the lodge in this book expressly espoused the principle that it was open to "all the honest and worthy of every denomination, of every country, of every persuasion and every rank" [dedication]. This set the tone for many, if not all, masonic lodges in Ulster and "by 1800 there may have been as many as 20,000 freemasons in Ulster alone, many of them Catholics" [Mirala].Griffith made considerable additions in this Belfast edition which is dedicated to both the Earl of Blessington and "Orange Lodge of Belfast, No. 257 ... who have confessedly constituted and established one of the first Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons in the three Kingdoms .... one of the most respectable and numerous Lodges in the World". The edition includes a named list of the 89 members of that Lodge on 20th March 1782 plus, on an extra leaf dated "October 1783" a list of 52 new members admitted "since this edition of Ahiman Rezon was printed". On p.(xix) are listed 21 toasts "originally given in the Orange Lodge of Belfast No. 257" and on p.(xx) are listed the "Regular Lodges, at present, in Belfast", five in all (including No. 257, the largest) with their approximate number of members, their frequency of assembly, and the name and address of the inns where they met.
"Masonic poetry was read by masons and non-masons alike. Amyas Griffith apparently wrote the first known masonic poems published [in this book] in Ulster in 1782" [Mirala]. The songs section is substantial, occupying p.71-162. A divisional title page states that Solomon's Temple: An Oratorio was "As it was performed at the Philharmonic Room, in Fishamble Street, Dublin, for the Benefit of Sick and Distressed Free-Masons". Vide: Petri Mirala Freemasonry in Ulster 1733-1813, Dublin: Four Courts (2007)
A. T. Q. Stewart A Deeper Silence: the Hidden Roots of the United Irish Movement, London: Faber (1993)Aiken McClelland 'Amyas Griffith', in Irish Booklore, v.2, no.1, (1972), p.6-21