BASED on the collections held by the Freemasons’ Hall library and museum and written by the curator of that library and museum, Mark Dennis, and Dr Nicholas Saunders, author of Trench Art, the first ever such study and published last year by Shire Publications (ISBN 074780543 £4.99), this book accompanies the current Freemasons Hall exhibition Art of the Apocalypse.
This exhibition is the first dedicated to trench art over a span of some 400 years, from the Spanish Armada of 1588 to the Bosnian war of 1992-96. There is a spooky comment in Mark Dennis’s introduction that Saddam Hussein’s twin victory arches in the centre of Baghdad were one of the world’s largest examples of trench art, the giant crossed swords made from melted-down weapons captured during the Iran/Iraq war of 1980-1988. This book concentrates on Freemasonry and the diversity of trench objects associated with Freemasons in the armed forces and conflicts worldwide.
Arms and arcana
Craft and Conflict: Masonic Trench Art and Military Memorabilia by Mark JR Dennis and Nicholas Saunders, published by Savannah Publications in association with The Library and Museum of Freemasonry. ISBN 1902366166. From bookshops or from the Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AZ at £8.75 including p&p. Phone orders on 020 7395 9329 (Mon-Fri).
