(KLENCKE, Philipp Friedrich Hermann.)

Braunschweig, Christian Horneyer, (1871). 8vo. VIII,+ 104 pp. Some foxing, worse in the beginning. Together with:(KLENCKE, Philipp Friedrich Hermann.) Historische Enthüllungen über die wirklichen Ereignisse der Geburt und Jugend Jesu. Als Fortsetzung der zu Alexandrien aufgefundenen alten Urkunden aus dem Essäer-Orden. Nachtrag zu den Enthüllungen über die Todesart Jesu. Aus einer wortgetreuen Abschrift des alten Originals übersetzt. Zweite Auflage. Leipzig, Ch. E. Kollmann, 1869. 8vo. 94,+ (2) pp. Foxing in the beginning and the end. Together with:(KLENCKE, Philipp Friedrich Hermann.) Jesus der Essäer oder die Religion der Zukunft. Eine Beleuchtung der ”Enthüllungen über die wirkliche Todesart Jesu” und ihrer Consequenzen für die Gesellschaft, verbunden mit einer Kritik der Einwendungen der orthodoxen Theologie, wie sie die Schrift des F. S. Kirchenraths Dr. Wohlfahrt ausspricht. Zweite unveränderte Auflage. Leipzig, Christ. Ernst Kollmann, 1849. 8vo. 79,+ (1) pp. Foxing. Together with:(KLENCKE, Philipp Friedrich Hermann.) Christus war Mensch! Grundzüge der ”Neuen Lehre”. Vom Verfasser von ”Jesus der Essäer.”, ”Der wahre christliche Staat” etc. Zweite Unveränderte Auflage. Leipzig, Christ. Ernst Kollmann, 1850. 8vo. VIII,+ 52 pp. Heavy foxing. All four volumes in uniform slighly worn black half calf with blind- and gilt decorated spines and title in gilt on the front board. Owner’s signature of Nicolaus Törnvist, dated 1872, and library notation from the St. Nicolaus lodge in Visby. According to the story of the first two books, Jesus was an initiate of the Essene-order, and the important revelations on his life and death are taken from a manuscript by one of his fellow Essenes found in Alexandria. This manuscript, however, does not exist and the story is in actuality an abbreviated version of a fictional work by K. H. G. Venturini (”Geschichte des Urchristenthums in Zusammenhange mit der natürlichen Geschichte des großen Propheten von Nazareth”, 1807). Dr. Philip Friedrich Hermann Klencke, was the author of over 200 works in very divergent fields. He never admitted having produced these particular plagiarisms (which were originally issued in 1849) but his authorship has long been established. The publication prompted denunciations, especially by Johan Nepomuk Kelle in Prague who wrote his answer under the pseudonym Johan Nepomuk Truelle, ”Für jeden Christen höchst nothwendige Aufklärungen über die allein wahre Todesart Jesu Christi”, against which this edition of the ”Wichtige historische Enthüllungen” is supplemented by a ”Zurückweisung der katolischen Angriffe des Joh. Nepomuk Truelle”. The following two titles are further polemics on the issue of Christ’s humanity in general, and specifically against the catholic church.The order of the Essenes has been of interest to freemasons and masonic historians because of that order’s presumed similarity with the freemasons. It has been suggested that the Essenes were the sucessors of the original fremasons, who kept the traditions alive in the centuries following the construction of the temple of Salomon (the supposed origin of the freemasons).