Theos-Talk Archives (May 1998 Message tt00426)

Caldwell/Graye <blafoun@azstarnet.com> writes
>Was this kind of editing and changing really
>necessary??  No doubt, HPB's book had "shortcomings."
>But what book doesn't?

Clearly, the TS in 1893 thought it was desirable, at the very least.

>  Would you, Dr. Bain,
>approve of Mead's own books being likewise edited
>after his death?

Certainly, provided the editor made it plain that it was an edited version,
and could be compared with the original.  Readers Digest do it all the
time.

>  Do you approve of editors doing
>likewise with the works of other deceased writers?

I neither approve nor disapprove. Such matters need to be considered
on a case by case basis.  Would you not perhaps welcome the chance
to edit Paul Johnson's work [said in jest] :-)

>And when changes are made without telling the reader,
>how is the reader to know whether the changes are
>actually justified or not?

There, as they say, is the rub!  However, Mead (and Besant) *did* tell
the reader that they has made changes, and why. Furthermore, the
original edition was readily available at the time for students to make
their comparisons, and thanks to dedicated theosophists, still is.  As I
wrote to Dallas, maybe the differences could be highlighted, compared,
and discussed?

As the for Adyar TS, well, it's fondness for making changes without
telling the reader is well recorded, especially with the writings of Besant,
Leadbeater and Jinarajadasa!  So much so with the latter, that they
don't even publish him any more!

Alan
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