Theos-Talk Archives (July 2006 Message tt00181)

When the late John Cooper was editor of HPB's Collected Letters, he 
wrote:

"...All letters written by H.P.B. will be included.  These will 
INCLUDE letters whose authenticity is doubtful,
...." caps added.

On Theos-Talk, Mr. Cooper's good friend, Gregory Tillett, has 
recently wrote, under the heading of "John Cooper and the 'dubious' 
letters", the following:

"John's view (and mine) is that no scholarly editor can simply omit 
material [letters] on the grounds that some people [like Aveline??] 
question its veracity."

Now COMPARE what Mr. Aveline says in one of his frequent 
pronouncements:

"...Tillett seems to defend the publication of false letters and 
libels in general, IF they are identified as 'doubtful'. This is 
something which no true historian would do...."

It would appear here that Mr. Aveline is giving us HIS definition of 
a "true historian".

And by this definition, it appears that Mr. Aveline is suggesting 
(if not definitely claiming) that both Tillett and Cooper are NOT 
true historians.

Moving on…..

Now in previous postings on Theos-Talk, Mr. Aveline has from time to 
time given what one might consider "praise" to Michael Gomes, to 
Leslie Price and even to Patrick Deveney.

Below are some of Mr. Aveline's relevant comments.

In one posting, Aveline writes about:

[1]  "historians like Michael Gomes and Leslie Price."

One assumes he means they are TRUE historians and not PSEUDO 
historians.

As opposed to the likes of Cooper and Tillett?????

Aveline writes in other postings:

[2]  "Three good examples these people [various slanderers, pseudo-
historians??] could follow are Leslie Price, Michael Gomes and 
Ernest Pelletier -- who have different positions/opinions, but all 
respect facts and examine their own sources."

[3]  "Michael Gomes do [sic] not support Soloviof or the Coulombs as 
a historical source, as Leslie Price also does not do, as long as I 
know."

[4] "Michael Gomes' position, as a Historian, is clear. He 
acknowledges HPB's authenticity as a person, as a thinker and as a 
writer."

[5] "One must admit that Michael Gomes has been no slanderer and no 
libel-propagator so far."

[6] "If John Patrick Deveney is involved in the work of Volume II, 
as I have heard, one might hope that perhaps some improvement will 
occur."

[7] "Let's see what Patrick Deveney does in the second volume of HPB 
Letters. He may improve things."

Now I realize that there are mysterious depths to some aspects of 
Mr. Aveline's thinking as revealed in his various pronouncements, 
but I ask:

Is Mr. Aveline in all of his above quoted statements praising the 
above-mentioned individuals as good scholars and TRUE historians?

Is he contrasting them with those slanderers, libel-propagators and 
pseudo-historians?

But a nagging question arises from all of the above, especially from 
Aveline's pronouncement which reads:

"...Tillett seems to defend the publication of false letters and 
libels in general, IF they are identified as 'doubtful'. This is 
something which no true historian would do...."

The nagging question:

Do Gomes, Price and Deveney fully agree and support John Cooper's 
editorial policy which reads:

"...All letters written by H.P.B. will be included.  These will 
INCLUDE letters whose authenticity is doubtful,...." caps added.

Or phrasing it differently, do Gomes, Price and Deveney "defend" the 
publication of the so-called "false letters" or "dubious letters"  
in HPB's Collected Letters?  Not only in Volume I but in all FUTURE 
volumes???

And if they actually support that policy, will Mr. Aveline then 
honestly and frankly label them as "no true" historians? Will he be 
consistent and call them slanderers and libel-propagators?

Dr. John Algeo by also following Mr. Cooper's policy has been 
constantly labeled a "slanderer".

If Mr. Deveney, Mr. Gomes and Mr. Price support and CONTINUE to 
support this Cooper-Algeo policy will Mr. Aveline call them a 
similar epithet?

The email and postal addresses of these three gentlemen can be found 
on the WWW at:

http://www.theohistory.org/collab.html

It will be interesting to see if Mr. Aveline will write to each of 
them FRANKLY asking if they support the policy GIVEN by John Cooper, 
FOLLOWED by Dr. Algeo and SUPPORTED by Dr. Tillett:

"...All letters written by H.P.B. will be included.  These will 
INCLUDE letters whose authenticity is doubtful,
...." caps added.

There is no religion, no belief, no opinion, no pronouncement higher 
than the truth.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc