Theos-Talk Archives (July 2002 Message tt00281)

Thank you, Dallas, for throwing some more light on the subject of Volume III

> Should the present volumes meet with a
> favourable reception, no efforts will be spared to carry out
> the scheme of the work in its entirety. The third volume is
> entirely ready; the fourth almost so."

This is precisely the wording, at the beginning of the Preface to The Secret
Doctrine, which aroused my curiosity about Volume III. Even at that stage
HPB said, in 1888, that Volume III was "entirely ready". This was two and
a half years before her death. The thing I find baffling is that GRS Mead,
who was her personal secretary during the last two years of her life, made
no mention of seeing the correct manuscript of Volume III. He states, as
Daniel points out in his paper, that he has edited almost all of what HPB
had written in English, with the exception of Isis Unveiled, but had never
seen what was published as Volume III. One would have thought that if
there was a Volume III extant at the time, which HPB said was "entirely
ready" in 1888, then Mead would have seen it. If this were the case why did
he not say that the Volume III which was published was not the correct one ?

> Consequently it
> depends upon the reception with which Volumes I and II will
> meet at the hands of Theosophists and Mystics, whether these
> last two volumes will ever be published, though they are
> almost completed."

This may be a crucial statement. If the reception of the Masters were that
HPB had gone a little too far, then perhaps Volumes III & IV were, as some
have suggested, deliberately suppressed.

> A copy of the "third Vol. S D " as originally issued by the
> Theosophical Publishing House is available in most good
> Lodge or Branch libraries.

That answers a question I could feel rising, the more I read of Volume III.


> Mr. Daniel Caldwell is of the opinion that the "3rd. Volume
> as issued i1897 is in fact the 3rd Volume that H P B had
> written.

I have read Daniel's research paper, and find his arguments convincing,
except for the curious anomaly of the statement by GRS Mead, wheich I
mentioned earlier.

>Years ago I heard the following story, but could
> not authenticate it: An old student contemporary with H P B
> and her secretaries recalls hearing from Mr. A.. Keightley
> that very shortly before her death, H P B walked into the
> room where he worked, and asked where the MSS for the 3rd
> and 4th volumes was. The pile was pointed out to her. She
> then said: "I have just received instructions to destroy
> that." They there and then set to work and with the help of
> others, they tore up all that pile of MSS.

This would certainly explain a lot, but not Mead's lack of knowledge of the
true Volume III manuscript. Unless Mead was himself privy to what had
happened and was maintaining secrecy.

Orra Best,
Ian