Thanks for the replies. Here is what I've found:
Texas Council Monitor: Old (1941) and useless in practical application although a good look at what there was prior to our current ritual book. A couple neat illustrations and a diagram or two showing lodge layout and a bit of floor work, but beyond that it's mostly memorabilia.
Texas Chapter Monitor: A fair bit more useful that the Council Monitor. Still somewhat old though (1986 reprint). Mostly just a collector's piece like the chapter book. Many interesting illustrations and diagrams showing layouts and such. Also sheet music and lyrics for some old ceremonial stuff. A better buy (well, both are "good" buys at $1/ea) than the council monitor, but still not entirely useful for study when compared to the current ritual book (besides the drawings).
Book of the Chapter or Monitorial Instructions in the degrees of...: Fairly old at 1858 (4th ed.), this is basically Mackey's monitor for the chapter. It contains a great deal of esoteric explanation, symbolism, sheet music, drawings, a few diagrams, etc. I've found this to be a great source of explanation on the symbolism of the chapter. A good resource.
Cryptic Masonry, A Manual of the Council: This is another Mackey book that equates a council monitor of the day. Like the chapter monitor by mackey above, this one is pretty old (1897), but is chock full of symbolic explanation, drawings, and a diagram or two. A good study partner. It should be noted that along with the chapter monitor by mackey, it would seem that the basic ritual has evolved over the years as I've found some symbolic meanings that do not jive with our current (TX) ritual, but is an excellent book nonetheless.
The Text Book of Cryptic Masonry: Another oldie (1870) from Jackson Case, this one is more like an extension of mackey's work and should be probably bought along side mackey's rather than stand alone. Like the others, we get some illustrations, a couple diagrams, but it is pretty light on esoteric and symblic explanation. Better as a collectible than a real resource.
Duncan's Ritual: Everybody knows this one, but I actually found some of the notes in the appendix to be quite enlightening concerning specific history, evolution, and symbolic meanings of the chapter degrees, specifically the royal arch degree. It's worth a read for the chapter degrees for sure.
All in all, what I was looking for was commentary/study on the esoteric and symbolism (as we don't need anything specifically ritualistic in TX) and both of the Mackey books provided this well enough in addition to the notes in Duncan's. I recommend those three books for any york rite mason for sure. It's amazing learning exactly why we are doing what we do and what we are doing is symbolizing and actually how deep that symbolism goes (especially in the royal arch, no joke). I'd personally only recommend getting the official monitors and Case's book as memoribilia and/or companions to the other three.
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