Aryan Theosophical Press

The Aryan Theosophical Press was established by the William Quan Judge and the Aryan Theosophical Society in New York City, probably in the late 1880s, to serve the American Section of the Theosophical Society.

History

James Morgan Pryse and John Morgan Pryse, brothers originally from Cincinnati, were recruited by Judge to operate the press. They had experience operating newspapers and printing plants in Nebraska, Montana, Wisconsin, and California.

According to James Pryse, the Press was initially established to print the Esoteric Instructions of H. P. Blavatsky:

My brother John and I, returning from a trip to South America, landed in New York City, We found Mr. Judge perplexed by a difficult problem: H.P.B. had directed him to send her Instructions to all the American members of the E.S., but had sent him only one copy, and he had no facilities for making the many copies needed. We solved that problem for him by establishing the Aryan Press [6] and printing the Instructions in book-form. Then, in response to a cable from H.P.B. I went to London to do the same work there, and started the H.P.B. Press....

After Katherine Tingley became head of the newly renamed Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, the publishing operations were moved to the Point Loma community in 1900, "locating it downtown because Point Loma was not yet supplied with electricity."

In 1906, the power lack on the Hill having been partially met, she [Tingley] built her large Theosophical Publishing House in a Loma canyon overlooking the Pacific Ocean. An improved linotype was installed, a bindery was added, and within a few years' time a photo and engraving department, adjacent to the press, was making all the blocks, cuts, and plates for theosophical publications.

Publications

In its early years, the press printed purely Theosophical books and periodicals. After the move to Point Loma, many other forms of literature were published, including children's books, fiction, and scholarly studies of many disciplines. A series called Theosophical Manuals was published in English, Spanish, and French. They were not all the product of a single pen, but written by a number of different students at the international headquarters of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society. Another series was the Papers of the School of Antiquity.

Fiction

• Morris, Kenneth. The fates of the Princes of Dyfed. 1914. 365 pages.
• O'Ryan, William Patrick. The plough and the cross: a story of new Ireland. 1910. 378 pages.

Theosophical works in English

• Blavatsky, H. P. Isis unveiled: a master key to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology. 1919. Two volumes printed in 4.
• Blavatsky, H. P. The key to theosophy: being a clear exposition in the form of question and answer of the ethics, science, and philosophy for the study of which the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society has been founded. 1913. 388 pages.
• Blavatsky, H. P. The secret doctrine: the synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy. 1909. Two volumes.
• Fussell, Joseph H. Incidents in the history of the theosophical movement, founded in New York city in 1875 by H.P. Blavatsky continued under William Q. Judge, and now under the direction of their successor, Katherine Tingley. 1920. 36 pages. Available at Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Internet Archive, and Google Books.
• Student; Tingley, Katherine A. Theosophical Manuals. 18 volumes. Contents: 1. Elementary theosophy -- 2. The seven principles of man -- 3. Karma -- 4. Reincarnation -- 5. Man after death -- 6. Kâmaloka and Devachan -- 7. Teachers and their disciples -- 8. The doctrine of cycles -- 9. Psychism, ghostology, and the astral plane -- 10. The astral light -- 11. Psychometry, clairvoyance and thought-transference -- 12. The angel and the demon (2 v. ) -- 13. The flame and the clay -- 14. On God and prayer -- 15. Theosophy : the mother of religions -- 16. From crypt to pronaos : an essay on the rise and fall of dogma / by S.J. Neill -- 17. Earth : its parentage : its rounds and its races -- 18. Sons of the firemist : a study of man.
• Walker, E. D. Reincarnation; a study of forgotten truth. 1923. 375 pages.
• Whiting, Lilian. Katherine Tingley and her Râja-Yoga system of education. 1919. 23 pages. Available online at Hathitrust.
• Whiting, Lilian. Katherine Tingley theosophist and humanitarian. 1919. 23 pages.

Theosophical works in Spanish and French

• Blavatsky, H. P. La Clef de la théosophie, exposition claire sous forme de questions et de réponses de e'éthique, de la science et de la philosophie ... avec in glossaire de terms theosophiques ... 1921.
• Blavatsky, H. P.; Judge, W. Q.; Tingley, Katherine A. Le message de la théosophie; recueil de pensées secourables appropriées à l'heure actuelle. 1922. 106 pages.
• Bricaud, Joanny; Tingley, Katherine. La lumière astrale.
• Étudiant, Un.; Tingley, Katherine. Karma. 1920. 74 pages.
• Étudiant, Un.; Tingley, Katherine. Les maîtres et leur disciples. 1917.
• Étudiant, Un.; Tingley, Katherine. Les sept principes de l'homme. 1919. 65 pages.
• Étudiant, Un.; Tingley, Katherine. L'homme après la mort. 1920. 95 pages.
• Étudiant, Un.; Tingley, Katherine. Réincarnation. 1920. 79 pages.
• Étudiant, Un.; Tingley, Katherine. Théosophie élémentaire. 1919. 69 pages.
• Fussell, Joseph H. Incidentes en la historia del movimento teosofico, fundada en Nueva York en 1875 por H.P. Blavatsky. 1900, 1910.
• Judge, William Quan. Ecos del Oriente: esquicio general de las doctrinas teosóficas. 1907. 78 pages.
• Judge, William Quan. Epítome de las enseñanzas teosóficas. 1910s. 40 pages.
• Un Estudiante. Manuales teosóficos. 1910-1918. At least seven volumes in this series.
• Un Estudiante. La teosofía explicada. 1912. 16 pages.
• Tingley, Katherine A. La teosofía y sus falsificaciones. 1917. 10 pages.
• Tingley, Katherine A. La vida en Point Loma, el centro de la Fraternidad universal y sociedad teosófica. 1902, 1912. 24 pages.
• Tingley, Katherine A. Manuels théosophiques. 1921.
• Tingley, Katherine A. Sendero teosófico. 1911-??. Periodical.
• Whiting, Lilian. Mme Katherine Tingley et son système d'éducation Râja-Yoga. 1921. 23 pages.

Other nonfiction

• Gates, William. Commentary upon the Maya-Tzental Perez codex, with a concluding note upon the linguistic problem of the Maya glyphs. 1920. 64 pages. Available at Hathitrust.
• Gates, William. Early Chinese painting. 1916. 43 pages.