Theos-Talk Archives (September 1998 Message tt00098)

Eldon wrote:

> There are a few reasons why I prefer to use Boris' edition of
> THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
>
> First is the readability of the text.

Path of least resistance?  "Where there is no effort, there is no merit".

> The lengthy quotes in the
> SD are typographically set apart from the body text, making it
> much easier to tell when HPB is writing and when it's someone
> she's quoting. This is not altering the author's words, but
> just a typographical facelift.

It is not, therefore, the same as the ORIGINAL (as published when HPB was
alive and OVERSEEN BY MASTERS).  There are no two ways about this, Eldon.

> Second is the accuracy in citations and in cited materials. It's
> a matter of scholarship, not one of altering an author's words,
> to go back to source materials, completing citations and correcting
> quotes. There's a degree of human error in setting up a book, and
> this helps eliminate the part than we can check up on.

We can expect, under usual circumstances, a degree of "human error".  The
question is: was the publication/production of SD "usual"?  No. Was it
subject to "human error"?  Let us examine:

It is said that Masters 'corrected' MSS during the night etc..  Do we think
They were any less capable, would have been any less active, during the
typographic settings for the original print run?  Would They have wasted
valuable time/energy/occult power 'correcting' hand written/precipitated MSS
only to allow failings/errors to creep in during the type set?  Hardly makes
sense.

> There are other minor changes. In about a year of attending
> the Mailbu ULT SD class, taking my Boris edition SD, there's
> only one change I've encountered that I recall. There was a
> place where in the original SD it mentions the number "40"
> in connection with Egyptian mythology; Boris changed it to
> "42", which is what I've heard it should be. I'm not making
> a case that these changes are good or bad ...

"...a very minute difference may make the emblem or symbol differ widely in
its meaning." (SD, I, 306).  See the HUGE difference in symbols on pages 4/5
of original SD when compared to other editions.  One small example: the
original positioning of these symbols is group of 3, group of 4, group of 5.
Compare 3(1)4(1)5; Pi; ratio of diameter of circle to its circumference; 3 x
4 x 5 = 60; triangle, square, pentagram etc. etc..  See the keynote.  What
happens if this is changed/altered?  Seriously, Eldon, what happens?  What
happens if you add/deduct a note or two here and there to Beathoven's 5th
Symphony?  Think about it.

All good wishes,
Paul.