FRIMURERI. WARD / STIRLING. The Hung Society. Or The Society of Heaven and Earth.

(3 Volume Set) . Ward, J.S.M.; Stirling, W.G. The Baskerville Press, Ltd, London, 1925-1926. Publisher's cloth, gilt stamped. Numbered copy 39 of an edition of 1500. xv, 180pp - viii, 196pp - vi, 148pp., colour and b/w illustrations.
A Lewis (bookbinder) on the foot of the spine. bound by Lewis at a later date (circa 1960).
An important collection of scholarly texts on the Chinese secret societies known as the 'Hung' societies, from the nineteenth century through early twentieth centuries. These were most common in Southern China, but with emigration they spread globaly, and some of the modern tongs and triads are said to have evolved from them.