When I started, I didn’t give much more information than: “York Rite symbol” or something. Later I tried to find the oldest possible source for the image itself. Below I will give you an idea of these sources.
Books used and online (further reading) sources:
- Freemasons: 555 Illustrations Klaus Dąbrowski (2022). A massive 670 page book not with symbols, but with illustrations and no explanations;
- Die Arbeidstafel in der Freimaurerei Klaus Feddersen (1982 + 1986). Two volumes, 1500 pages. In the German language. Part 1 contains about 400 tracing boards, part 2 (twice the size of part one) investigates the symbolism;
- Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Craft Freemasonry Explained Julian Rees (2015 revised and enlarged in 2019). By far not as large as the previous two titles, but with many beautiful colour plates and explanation;
- Ornaments, Furniture and Jewels Julian Rees (2013). Similar to the previous title, but -obviously- not with tracing boards;
- The Templar’s chart or, Hieroglyphic monitor Jeremy Cross (1821) (available on Archive.org);
- The True Masonic Chart, or Hieroglyphic Monitor Jeremy Cross (1826) (available on Archive.org);
- Masonic galleries on the website of Universal Freemasonry;
- The September 2024 issue of Fraternal Review is an excellent one about “The Hieroglyphical Emblems” with some in depth articles about different symbols;
- The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon has a symbol database.
I also refer to the following works:
- Exploring the Vault: Masonic Higher Degrees 1730-1800 – John Belton and Roger Dachez (2024);
- Geschichte der freimaurerischen Systeme in England, Frankreich und Deutschland – Georg Nettelbladt (1879);
- Freemasonry – A History Angel Millar (2005);
- Quest for a Lost Rite: The Origins, High Degrees and Spiritual Practices of Traditional Egyptian Freemasonry – Mathieu G. Ravignat (2021);
- The ‘Universal Language’ of Freemasonry – Christina Linda Voss (2003).
Early texts can more and more be accessed online. Three magnificent sources for old material, where I got more than a few symbols from, are:
- The collection of Johann Georg Burckhard Franz Kloß (also: Kloss), (1787-1854) can be found on the website of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands;
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fonds Maçonnique. The navigation is awful. You can use this as a ‘jumping page’ (open the “Fonds Maçonnique” sub menu with the arrow). Only when an entry has an icon with a G (of Gallica) it is available digitally;
- Bibliothèque Numérique Patrimoniale, Fonds Gaborria.
To continue your searches after here, I recommend the websites:
- Encyclopedia Masonica;
- Freimaurer Wiki (German (and partly English) language Masonic encyclopedia);