Theos-Talk Archives (September 1998 Message tt00256)

On September 18, Daniel Caldwell wrote:

But the important question is: "Why did the 'editor' of the Theosophy
Company edition decide to make changes, then went ahead and made the
changes, and did NOT alert readers to those changes (however minor or
insignificant that editor or you may deem the changes)?"

In light of your own words, the Theosophy Company edition is certainly
NOT a facsimile of the orginal VOICE. And this edition is NOT a "truly
and accurately VERBATIM" edition since there are "changes or
emendations." Furthermore, the Theosophy Company's edition contains
changes and emendations but the reader is not told this. How many ULT
associates currently know that this edition is "edited" and "changed"
from the original 1889 edition?

Dear Daniel, Dallas and Others,

As a 'lurker' on this list who hasn't the time to contribute on a
regular basis, I have followed with interest this somewhat convoluted
series of arguments. Daniel, I especially appreciate your
contributions, as you point out the illogic in the thinking of students
who will accept only an 'original edition' from one publisher, but allow
without comment a version with 'minor or insignificant' changes from
another.

Theosophy Company obviously did the same thing with the Voice that
Boris de Zirkoff and others have done with other works--edit the text to
make it more readable. Frankly, I am grateful to all the theosophical
publishers for making facsimile/verbatim/accurate editions of basic
theosophic texts available.

I performed the 'experiments' you suggested the other day, and found
that, despite the minor changes made in the Theosophy Company edition of
the Voice of the Silence, it 'read' true to the original. I agree--TC
should have said something about minor editing! ('665 "changes in
punctuation, italics, quotation marks, capitals, spelling of Sanskrit
words, omission of the important diacritical marks over the vowels, and
others" in the current edition of the Voice issued by The Theosophy
Company' is a bit much to go without comment!) I am one of those ULT
Associates who did not know that the TC edition of the Voice has been
"edited" and "changed." Perhaps that can be corrected in the next
printing. (Hhmmm, 1928, then 1987, we'll need another printing about
2046.....) Or, perhaps they will simply choose to sell the TUP
'facsimile' edition?

But, no matter. Most readers of Shakespeare don't have access to
original Folios of his work, either, and it still survives. Slight
editing over 400 years has done little to change the meaning, value or
availability of his plays. More important has been the changes in
language over the centuries, but that is another story. Come on,
Dallas, let's admit TC made a mistake, admit the value of verbatim/
slightly edited editions of the S.D. (like deZirkoff's) and move on.

Best Regards,

Wes Amerman