A Reference Book for Freemasons By Frederick Smyth. London(QCCC Ltd), 1998. Vii + 359pp. ISBN 090765541 6

My first introduction to freemasonry was in the late 1950s when, as an enquiring boy, I discovered on my father’s bookshelves those two indispensable volumes, Pick and Knight’s Pocket History of Freemasonry and The Freemasons’ Pocket Reference Book.
    Although more than a decade was to pass before I could join, I was hooked.
    Pick and Knight were among the giants of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 from the 1930s to the 1960s, and their joint volumes were succinct distillations of the past research and current thinking in the vast field of masonic research.
    Despite the death of Pick in 1966 and Knight in 1978, subsequent editions of both volumes were produced under the editorship of Frederick Smyth, a fellow member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge. He, with Knight and A R Hewit (Librarian and Curator of Grand Lodge 1960- 1972), had been founders of the Society of Indexers.
    In the 1990s it became apparent, with so many new discoveries to alter old opinions, that rather than a new edition of Pick and Knight’s Pocket Reference Book, the volume needed a complete rethink and, in many of the entries, a complete rewrite.
    Brother Smyth was happy to take on this project as a tribute to the memory of its originators, but it took some persuading that it was his name, rather than theirs, that should appear on the new volume.
    The book’s title describes it exactly. It is a wonderful alphabetical pot pouri of explanations of masonic terms and names. It also provides potted biographies of major figures in masonic ritual and history, brief histories of degrees and orders, and entries under countries giving a brief history and current state of freemasonry therein.
    There are references to important masonic documents, coming right up-to- date with entries on the Internet, parliamentary inquiry (the Home Affairs Select Committee findings in 1997 and 1998) and public relations.
    This alphabetical listing is followed by useful appendices giving masonic abbreviations, Orders and Degrees controlled in and from England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland, as well as the structure of freemasonry in the United States.
    As one might expect from a practised indexer, the individual entries are cross-referenced (in bold type) to related items. Following the trail of bold type leads to all sorts of interesting facts to expand the reader’s general knowledge of freemasonry in all its diverse aspects. The volume ends with a comprehensive index giving the main entry for the subjects in bold and other reference in ordinary type.
    Brother Smyth has done Freemasonry a distinct service in compiling the reference book. He has more new material than the original, and although biased towards English freemasonry, his volume contains more than sufficient information on freemasonry worldwide for it to be of interest to non-English freemasons.
    Nor should its readership be limited to freemasons. Brother Smyth writes in a fluent, easy style and the entries are comprehensible to those with either no knowledge or a limited understanding of freemasonry.
    For anyone aspiring to be masonic student, this is an essential reference book for their working library. For any new member it is a useful gift to start them on their journey of better understanding the organisation they have joined.
    John Hamill