Did You Know This, Too? Neville Barker Cryer, Lewis Masonic, Hersham, 2005. Paperback, 96 pages, £9.99. ISBN 0-85318-241-8.

The Rev. Neville Cryer is one of those lecturers who, as long as I can remember, has been at the forefront of those who seek into the enigmas, curiosities and inconsistencies of Freemasonry, be it in the history, the ritual or the symbolism employed. He has never failed to raise questions when I have heard him speak; he has never failed to teach me something new. And for that I have long been grateful.
    It is then, very gratifying that this book which contains a number of the lectures which he has delivered over the years has appeared. All his chapters touch on fundamental questions about Freemasonry: what evidence exists to show how English Freemasonry developed from operative practice to the Craft we know today? Did English and Scottish Freemasonry have different origins? What is the difference between ‘Arch’ Freemasonry and the Royal Arch as was stated in 1751? Like all his studies, this latter question leads one into very interesting territory indeed: the Rev. Cryer shows how the ‘Arch dimension’ of Masonic ritual was left out by those who organised - or re-organised - Freemasonry under the Grand Lodge of 1717.
    The Rev. Cryer is a researcher through and through; he asks the simple questions and then embarks on a journey taking the reader with him. And along the way some curious aspects of Freemasonry are uncovered. The Rev. Cryer, for all his scholarly caution, is driven by his great enthusiasm - which all who have heard him speak will immediately recognise - and cannot help but raise some very radical ideas indeed, particularly where the relationship between the Craft and the Royal Arch are concerned, a subject dear to his heart. Both, he reveals, have very ancient roots and both were once part of the same degree structure through the ritual building of an Arch between the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, as part of the third degree. Perhaps they might come together again? This new book forms a trilogy with the Rev. Cryer’s two previous books focussing on other questions and mysteries of Freemasonry: I Just Didn’t Know That and What Do You Know About The Royal Arch? This new book is as welcome. He piques our curiosity and then takes us on an enthralling journey of discovery where unexpected insights come thick and fast. It’s fun; and along the way we learn more of our Craft and its vast coffer of riches.
    Michael Baigent