Theos-Talk Archives (January 2001 Message tt00093)

Dear Jim:

It was because there had been so many printings of the ORIGINAL
1888 edition of the S.D. in reset type and with editorial changes
(not clearly defined) from that original that in 1925 the ULT
published a photographic edition of the 1888 ORIGINAL S.D. --
with no changes.

All the changes made can be easily checked out with the original
edition by editorial comparison.

In many cases the "changes" are minor, but in some cases H.P.B.'s
original meaning was altered. This was considered to be a
disservice to students, hence the photographic reprint, and the
continuing study of that ORIGINAL as she wrote and published it.

The PUBLISHER'S INTRODUCTION to the ULT edition gives the history
in detail of the publication and the changes.

Modern students can take their pick.

H.P.B. never edited or published a 3rd Volume of the S.D.
Apparently Annie Besant found some unpublished MSS in her drawers
and used them to prepare what is today called the "3rd VOLUME OF
THE S.D. " Whether she edited H.P.B.'s MSS or not cannot now be
ascertained, as those papers were apparently destroyed.

I will now write this from memory and may be somewhat inaccurate:

The ORIGINAL 1888 edition went out-of-print (but some individuals
and libraries have copies of that).

In 1893 (2 years after H.P.B.'s death) a 2nd Edition was issued
with re-set type -- it is presumed the editorial changes (about
40,000) -- were made by G. R. S. Meade (although he disowned
responsibility and placed it on his co-editor Annie Besant) were
made without H.P.B.'s authorization.

Subsequently when this went out of print various editions have
been issued by the TSes as you have noted.

The ULT edition is the only totally photographic and accurate
reprint of the ORIGINAL 1888 edition.

The current edition published by the T.S. in Pasadena is quite
accurate to the original but includes some editorializations
which are not all marked clearly. This can be ascertained by
comparison with the original. Consequently some changes in
emphasis from H.P.B.'s original occur.

The S.D. published by the Adyar T.S. follows the changes that
Annie Besant introduced in the 2nd Edition of 1893.

I believe that Mr. Daniel Caldwell has published a fine review of
these facts and this will be found on: blavatsky.net The
article is well worth being read and remembered

Best wishes,

Dallas

==========================================

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Rodak [mailto:rodakjl@pcola.gulf.net]
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2001 10:57 AM
To: Theosophy Study List
Cc: UniversalSeekers@egroups.com; BN-basic
Subject: Inquiries

Greetings Fellow Travelers ~ I've a couple of questions that
perhaps someone
can shed some light on for me.

(1) The Secret Doctrine. Apparently there are several
versions of
the S.D. in print. For example, I have a 2-vol set published by
the TUP
(Theosophical University Press), Pasadena that purports to be "A
facsimile
of the original edition of 1888." I also have a 6-vol set
published by the
TPH (Theosophical Publishing House), Adyar, (The Adyar edition of
1938); and
most recently I acquired a 3-volume set published by the
Theosophical
Publishing Society, 1893 (3rd ed. reprinted 1910) - volume 3
being a
compilation of HPB's "unarranged" papers that were compiled by
Annie Besant
(as stated in the Preface to Vol. 3). What a surprise to find
such a 3-vol.
set, especially when I turned to the Table of Contents and
discovered an
array of articles not found in the TUP and TPH editions.

(2) I have heard that there is a theosophical-oriented
group/community just north of Ventura, California, that
apparently has
addressed the "missing third volume of the S.D" that is
occasionally
referred to in theosophical circles. Does anyone have any
information on
this group? I'm interested in it from an academic perspective.
I was under
the impression that there were only 3 primary theosophy
organizations: the
Adyars; the Pasadenas; and the ULTers.

Comments will be appreciated. Respectfully, Jim Rodak


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