Theos-Talk Archives (May 2003 Message tt00045)

Wes recently wrote:

". . . when Judge reprinted 'The Voice of the Silence' in New York in
1893, he did some minor editing and rearranged the footnotes to 
appear on the text pages instead of at the back of the book. So, when 
The Theosophy Company went to re-publish the Voice, there were two 
editions to choose from: Blavatsky's and Judge's. Which one should we 
have published? HPB's 'original' text, or Judge's edition which was a 
bit easier to use? The Theosophy Company editors apparently decided 
to use Judge's, relying on his known skill as an editor."

But in The Aquarian Theosophist, an editorial note [by Jerome 
Wheeler???]reads:

"This change [concerning the "thin oblong squares] FIRST occurred in 
the 1892 edition of the Voice issued by G.R.S. Mead and A. Besant. 
Hence it appears that WQJ based his 1893 edition on the Mead/Besant 
reprint rather than HPB's original. — EDS." Caps added. See 
<http://www.teosofia.com/Docs/vol-2-10.pdf> p. 2, footnote 1 

Do we have differing versions here?

Compare and contrast the above versions with the following:

In a letter dated March 30, 1928 and signed by THE THEOSOPHY
COMPANY, an annonymous official informed Dr. H.N. Stokes (editor of 
THE O.E. LIBRARY CRITIC)about who had made the changes in the 1928 
Theosophy Company edition:

"The Theosophy Company is just bringing out an entirely new edition
of *The Voice of the Silence.* . . .. Sometime ago the Theosophy
Company came into possession of a copy of the original London
edition of *The Voice of the Silence* with the typographical changes
and corrections made by Mr. Judge in his own hand, and it is this
text which is followed in the edition just being issued by the 
Theosophy Company. . . ." [quoted in O.E. LIBRARY CRITIC, July 1928.]

In a follow-up letter dated May 1, 1928, THE THEOSOPHY COMPANY
again stated to Dr. Stokes the following:

"This new [TC 1928] edition . . . is set up *verbatim et literatim* 
from a copy of the original edition of *The Voice of the Silence* as 
corrected by Mr. Judge in his own handwriting. This copy we have in 
our possession. . . ."
[quoted in O.E. LIBRARY CRITIC, July 1928.]

Can Dallas and Wes find this "copy of the original London edition of 
*The Voice of the Silence* with the typographical changes and 
corrections made by Mr. Judge in his own hand" in the ULT/Theosophy 
Company archives?

Daniel H. Caldwell
BLAVATSKY STUDY CENTER/BLAVATSKY ARCHIVES
http://blavatskyarchives.com