[WILLIAM FINCH], LECTURES ON MASONRY ([1809 OR 1810])

As opposed to Browne, Finch continued after 1802 publishing further versions of his Lectures.1 D. Vieler regards the ‘lectures in manuscript’ that Finch produced around 1806 ‘in substance a third edition’; but ‘Finch returned to print in 1808, and the fourth, fifth and sixth editions of the lectures were published in that and the two subsequent years’.2 Included here is one of those versions. John Hamill – former Librarian of the LMFL – regards it the one from 1810, as he wrote in a note added to it:

According to Vieler, however, this is the fifth edition of 1809, since ‘the “Advertisement to Brothers” in the 1809 edition … implies that the “Ancient System” had been neglected for 92 years, that is since 1717’,5 (1717 + 92 being 1809) and that is indeed found on p. 30 of the version reproduced here. The reason why it is really interesting to include not only the 1802 version of Finch’s lectures, but

this later version as well, is that ‘there is no question that Finch 1810 brought his earlier work – partly with assistance from Browne or some common source – much closer in form, content and wording to the post-Union Emulation lectures’.6 But since ‘the 1808 to 1810 editions are … substantially similar’,7 especially the 1809 and 1810 ones, this must hold for the version reproduced here, regardless whether it is the 1809 or the 1810 version. Of course it is a logical fallacy to claim that Finch brought here ‘his earlier work … much closer … to the post-Union Emulation lectures’, but presenting two of his versions here shows part of the process of development that would eventually result in the Emulation working of today.