If a picture’s worth a thousand words, then what’s a never-before-seen glimpse into the symbology of a secret and mystical fraternal order worth?

That’s the question at the heart of a new exhibition from the Henry Wilson Coil Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Illustrations of Masonry. The exhibition breaks down the illustrated engravings by artist John Pine that adorn the frontispiece of James Anderson’s 1723 Constitutions of Free Masonry, the first-ever rulebook for the organization. Before its printing, these symbols had never been seen before. On the 300th anniversary of its publication, museum director Joe Evans explains these depictions were so groundbreaking.