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....[1]
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."[2]
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.[3]
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.
Notes
- ↑ James. M. Pryse, "Memorabilia of H. P. Blavatsky," The Canadian Theosophist 16.1 (March 15, 1935), 2. Available at Katinahesselink.net.
- ↑ Emmett A. Greenwalt, California Utopia: Point Loma: 1897-1942 2nd revised edition (San Diego, CA: Point Loma Publications, 1978), 152.
- ↑ Emmett A. Greenwalt, California Utopia: Point Loma: 1897-1942 2nd revised edition (San Diego, CA: Point Loma Publications, 1978), 152.