William Tait : Belfast, 1909.
 
First edition. Hardcover. 8vo. vi-vii, pp 566. Bound in blue cloth, title in gilt on spine. Pages uncut. Slight bumping to top edge of front cover, and slight foxing to first few pages, else a Very Good copy of this very rare title. 
 
‘John Yarker (1833-1913) was an English Freemason, and author: 'The Arcane Schools,' is his somewhat unconventional history of Freemasonry, tracing it from remote antiquity, through the mystery and hermetic schools to modern times, arguing that throughout that an authentic Mystery Tradition was maintained and passed on. Aleister Crowley reviewed the work with uncharacteristically high praise in the September 1910 issue of 'The Equinox,' stating that Yarker had "abundantly proved his main point, the true antiquity of some Masonic system. It is a parallel to Frazer's tracing the history of the Slain God." As is well known, the aging Yarker welcomed Crowley enthusiastically, granting him high degrees in a number of the 'fringe' Masonic Rites over which he had control’.
 
£1250.