The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Kloss, Georg Franz Burkhard

KLOSS, klōs, Georg Franz Burkhard, German physician and bibliophile: b. Frankfort, 31 July 1787; d. there, 10 Feb. 1854. He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine in Heidelberg and Göttingen, but soon turned to book collecting, and gathered a fine collection of old manuscripts, purchasing entire libraries of monasteries. Obtaining Masonic degrees, he started collecting books referring to Freemasonry. In 1844 appeared, at Frankfort, a bibliography of the Masonic works in his collection, another in 1846. His work ‘Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung aus den alten und ächten Urkunden’ reached its second edition in 1854; he published (1848) ‘Geschichte der Freimaurerei in England, Ireland und Schottland,’ then ‘Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Frankreich’ (1852-53). His magnificent library of Masonic works is now at The Hague.