The Odd Fellows’ Amulet

In the mid-19th century, British authorities, having become suspicious about the influence and secret activities of fraternal organizations, outlawed some and started meddling in the customs and ceremonies of others.  In response, the Oddfellows instituted rule changes to forestall further meddling.  The Odd Fellows (Americans) were unhappy with the Oddfellows (Brits) about the changes and even more unhappy about having been excluded from the decision making process that produced the changes (any of this sound familiar?), so in 1842 they decided to form a governing system independent of the British.

Gee, hmm, “a governing system independent of the British”—where did they get that revolutionary idea?

It was in this environment of general suspicion of “secret” fraternal organizations, and in the immediate aftermath of the Americans splintering off from the Brits, that The Odd Fellows’ Amulet was written and published in 1848.  The Reverend Bristol is a thorough, passionate, and thoroughly passionate defender of Odd Fellowship.  Although his language might seem flowery and melodramatic at times, pass it off to that passion.  There is nothing wrong with having emotion behind your beliefs, after all.

From the notion that Odd Fellowship is anti-Christian, to the charge that Odd Fellowship is meant to undermine legitimate government, to the claim that Odd Fellowship is merely Free Masonry under a different name, the Reverend answers all.  Whether the reader is an Odd Fellow, an Oddfellow, or merely curious, he will at least come away with a better understanding of an organization that today claims millions of members around the world and performs many worthwhile charitable services.

Preparing old books for digital publication is a labor of love at Travelyn Publishing.  We hold our digital versions of public domain books up against any others with no fear of the comparison.  Our conversion work is meticulous, utilizing a process designed to eliminate errors, maximize reader enjoyment, and recreate as much as possible the atmosphere of the original book even as we are adding the navigation and formatting necessary for a good digital book.  While remaining faithful to a writer’s original words, and the spellings and usages of his era, we are not above correcting obvious mistakes.  If the printer became distracted after placing an ‘a’ at the end of a line and then placed another ‘a’ at the beginning of the next line (they used to do this stuff by hand you know!), what sort of mindless robots would allow that careless error to be preserved for all eternity in the digital version, too?  Not us.  That’s why we have the audacity to claim that our re-publications are often better than the originals.