Customer Reviews

The Compleat Rite of Memphis

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Rehashed material from other sources, notably Yarker's outline of the degrees. Not much original here. You've probably already got this material in other books if you're a serious student of Masonry.

I am not comfortable with the disparaging remarks made by others about Br. Greenfield. He brought together texts that until more recently were out of print and hard to come by. That said, the book was a bit disappointing for me. The contents are mostly reprints of John Yarker's "The Secret High Degree Rituals of the Masonic Rite of Memphis" and his "Lectures of the Antient and Primitive Rite of Freemasonry", in addition to some materials from the "Ritual of the A & A Egyptian Rite of memphis 96'" printed by the Valley of Canada. A few comments by Kenneth Mackenzie and E.J. Marconis, and you have the whole thing. The book itself is a mere 149 pages, with an original introduction and a simple index in the back.

As others have stated, serious students of Masonic ritual will likely have these materials already, and then some. All of these materials are available elsewhere in .pdf format. Nevertheless when this was printed in 1998, this book would have been a valuable resource. I am certain that many brothers have found it useful and instructive.

I paid $125.00 USD for a used copy in 2011, hoping that it would contain more information than what I already had. In this regard, as I said, I was disapointed. I suspect I am more upset at the high price I paid, than with the text itself. I believe the original price of $24.95 more accurately reflects the real value of a printed copy of these rituals.

A more accurate title for this book would probably have been "A small fraction of one version of the Rite of Memphis". Even as a rehash of documents available elsewhere this book is vastly incomplete. What is even more angering than the editor's consummate lack of skill as a researcher or writer is the audacity he has to charge so much for a thin paperback book which verges on being a pamphlet. This is unforgiveably bad, and does not deserve even a single star but you can't give reviews lower than that.

Just a reprint of previous printed documents. Not very elaborate. Boring.

This book is indispensable for anyone interested in Masonic history, Memphis-Misraim, and related topics.

Nicely-organized, well-researched - this book is a bargain.