Revived Masonic Book Club Reached Pre-Publication Goal In Just Two Days

by Christopher Hodapp

As reported here last September, the venerable but long defunct Masonic Book Club has recently been re-launched under the auspices of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction, helmed by S. Brent Morris and Arturo De Hoyos. On December 21st, the MBC announced the pre-publication sale of their first title, The Perfect Ceremonies of Craft Masonry & The Holy Royal Arch.

The Club has no dues and does not offer a subscription. Central to the new business model of the MBC is that books will be announced prior to publication in order to gauge the level of interest among Masonic readers. If an insufficient number of pre-orders are not received within 30 days, the book will be withdrawn and money refunded.

It looks like there's plenty of interested Masons in this endeavor. 

The Perfect Ceremonies of Craft Masonry & The Holy Royal Arch was announced on December 21, and just two days later, they already had enough pre-publication sales to publish. The pre-order window will remain open until 11:59 pm, January 21, 2021. Once the final tally of sales is known, the books will be printed and are expected to ship about March 29, 2021.

The MBC pre-publication price is $25 if ordered before January 21st, 2021 – the book will retail for $35 after that date, all plus shipping and handling. To learn more about the book and to view/download sample pages, visit the MBC web page HERE.

Pre-orders are NOT available through the Scottish Rite online store.

To make a pre-publication purchase for $25 + S&H, follow this link.

Only after all orders are fulfilled, a limited number of additional copies will become available for $35 + S&H via the Scottish Rite online store, https://www.scottishritestore.org/.

A message from the MBC also provided some insight as to what their next selections may be, along with addressing the troubles and costs regarding international sales:

What’s Next?
The response to the MBC has been exceptional. Before we have even delivered our first volume, some are asking, “What’s next?” The plan is to continue the MBC tradition of reprinting classic Masonic books with a scholarly introduction preceding the facsimile and an index following—the “MBC Sandwich.” In the pipeline is a reprint of the 1977 MBC volume, Samuel Prichard’s 1730 Masonry Dissected with an update to Harry Carr’s introduction and commentary. Also in the works is a collection of “burlesque degrees,” silly initiation ceremonies intended to mock the seriousness of fraternal initiations and to amuse the audience.

International Sales

One of the frustrations in relaunching the MBC is handling non-US customers. The US Postal Service has a very favorable “media mail” rate for shipping books within the US. Postage to mail a 2-lb. book to Buffalo, NY, is about $3.20; to mail the book another 150 miles to Toronto is $20+. We have tried to price international postage fairly, neither overcharging our international customers nor subsidizing them.

Sales and shipping to the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) requires personal data to be protected according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The service we use to process credit card sales does not comply with GDPR, and our number of EU/EEA sales is not enough to warrant changing services. We are trying to find an EU/EEA agent to facilitate sales. Until then, our best suggestion is that EU/EEA customers have their books shipped to an American friend who can reship.

The mission statement of the resurrected Masonic Book Club is to publish classic Masonic works with the goals to increase Masonic knowledge and to become a profit center for the House of the Temple Foundation. If you have any questions or suggestions, please address them to mbc@scottishrite.org.