Philippe Grouvelle - Mémoires historiques sur les Templiers - 1805

[GROUVELLE (Philippe-Antoine)]. Historical memoirs on the Templars, or New clarifications on their history, their trial, the accusations brought against them, and the secret causes of their ruin; drawn largely from several manuscripts or writings published in Germany. By Ph. G***. In Paris, at F. Buisson, an XIII-1805.

In-8 of XVI-410 pp. and one portrait, 13 x 20 cm.

FIRST EDITION. Important work of Templar historiography, published the very year when Raynouard had his tragedy “The Templars” triumph on stage. Relying on works published in Germany, Grouvelle resumes the history of the Order, examines the charges — idolatry, renunciation, secret initiation — and the testimonies of some two hundred and thirty brothers interrogated, and questions the “secret causes” of its ruin, a debate then keenly nourished by the question of the Templar lineage claimed by Freemasonry.

Engraved portrait of Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Order, in the frontispiece. Autograph signature of the publisher Buisson on the verso of the half-title, beneath the excerpt of the 1793 decree against counterfeiters.

Binding of the period in half-basane, smooth spine, marbled paper boards.

Condition: good; binding rubbed at the corners, some foxing.