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{{Infobox MLbox
[[File:WIZARDS - Mythical Monsters and other works.jpg|right|240px|thumb|Books by Wizards Bookshelf]]
| header1 = People involved |
'''Wizards Bookshelf''' was a publishing house operated by [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Blavatsky]] scholar Richard Robb. The company was founded in Minneapolis in 1972, and later moved to San Diego, California. It continued producing books until 2006[?].  
| writtenby        = [[Morya]], [[A. P. Sinnett]]
| receivedby        = [[A. P. Sinnett]], [[Morya]], [[H. P. Blavatsky]] 
| sentvia          = unknown{{pad|10em}}
| header2 = Dates
| writtendate      = October 1881
| receiveddate      = unknown
| otherdate        = unknown
| header3 = Places
| sentfrom          = Simla or Allahabad
| receivedat        = unknown
| vialocation      = unknown
}} 
This letter has not been published previously. [[A. P. Sinnett]] wrote to [[Mahatma]] [[Morya]], who added a note and gave the original to [[H. P. Blavatsky]] to preserve. This letter is a request for information from M., during the period of time when his usual correspondent, [[Mahatma]] [[koot Hoomi]] was in retreat. See also '''[[Mahatma Letter No. 29]]''', '''[[Mahatma_Letter_of_Sinnett_to/from_M_-_1881-10-17|Sinnett's letter dated October 17]]''', and the '''[[Cosmological Notes]]'''.  


== Note to H. P. Blavatsky or A. P. Sinnett from M. ==
== The Secret Doctrine Reference Series ==


{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
=== History of the series ===
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
'''Note written in blue-green ink across the top of page 12:'''<br>
Read and destroy. Fear not everything lovely M ... ... ... I am in his ... by your deed  Yes – your deed is not the meri... K.H. – ... Kashmir he is now stiff for a month, passing his Samadhi of three months before his final initiation and - it is ...t... trial which not one out of three pass it happily. ... if I send you Hume’s answer to Saturday Review.  [[Clive Rattigan|Ratigan]] [[The Pioneer (periodical)|Pioneer’s]] pro ... forced the bottle[-]nosed Editor of C & M [Gazette] to publish it. I will send you the Tribune full of in and out defense [[A. O. Hume|Mr Hume]] sent editors to the best papers to Hindu [Hindoo] Patriot, A B Patrika Englishman etc. if they all printed them


{{Col-break|width=3%}}
Mr. Robb wrote about the beginnings of Wizards Bookshelf in ''Sunrise'' in November 1975:
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
<blockquote>
''The Secret Doctrine'' was written for the Western world to stem the tide of abject materialism. No messenger made his appearance in glowing aura to impress the multitude and, if he had, he would probably have been completely ignored. Instead, we have a book designed to gain acceptance in the minds of thinking men for many long years to come. The form and content of the S.D. is such that the student is constantly referred to the thoughts and ideas of hundreds of authors, all of whom are generally tending in the same direction.


[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_12_Mnote.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_12_Mnote_thm.jpg] 
Some people have claimed that the 750 and more books cited are merely proofs. But what are proofs? If these references are by sheer weight of numbers designed to force people to believe the validity of the teachings developed in the S.D., then surely the exposition could have been far more explicit and detailed, thus removing from the mind of the inquirer any chance of doubt. But this is not the case. As stated in the Preface, there is simply not room enough to explain the complete scheme of nature in two volumes. It would take a thousand volumes. Moreover, the ideas expressed are often obscure to the Western mind, because we have no background. Background in these areas is best supplied by the very sources that are used, and the reader will discover that there are perhaps 40 or 50 out of the 750+ books referred to that are mentioned with regularity.
When I first became interested in The Secret Doctrine, an interest that was fostered by happenstance — an encounter with a copy of The Mahatma Letters in a small bookstore in New Orleans — I felt the work was utterly impossible, that there was little chance that I would ever be able to understand it. However, I found parts so interesting that I continued to read. Whole paragraphs passed without the least bit of comprehension, but occasionally a page really made sense to me.


{{Col-break|width=30%}}
That was in 1965. Several people told me that the S.D. could not be read per se, but used only as a sort of dictionary or reference work. Be that as it may, I started and read the entire two volumes all the way through. When I had finished, two things were uppermost in my mind: first, that I was utterly ignorant; and secondly, that my education had left me totally unprepared for the study of The Secret Doctrine. Here was a range of knowledge that required effort and scholarly endeavor, books that I had never heard of before, whole subject areas that were foreign to me. As it turned out, I really was motivated to begin my education over again. And in so doing I set out to find some of the books quoted or referred to in the S.D. Of course, these were rather scarce and I didn't locate them immediately. However, after a time I discovered a copy of ''The Source of Measures'' on a used book list and sent away for it. The parts of [[J. Ralston Skinner|Skinner's]] treatise that I did understand were an absolute revelation to me. "Why," I thought, "hadn't the Masons made a point of preserving this text, so rare and valuable as it is?" Inquiries of local Masons indicated that they possessed little knowledge of the subject matter. At length, I became convinced of the absolute necessity of preserving the text of ''The Source of Measures'', regardless of cost or its public acceptance. Some day, somewhere, there would be men who would fasten upon these ideas. Though utterly unacquainted with the publishing industry, I did finally succeed in reprinting 535 copies. Response to advertisements was nonexistent. However, a few copies were sold, and I was encouraged to the extent that I considered a second title — ''The Book of Enoch''. Since then the list of titles has steadily grown.


'''NOTES:'''
Thus the "Secret Doctrine Reference Series" (published by Wizards Bookshelf) came into being. It is fundamentally designed to guarantee future generations access to the ideas contained in the already rare and difficult-to-obtain titles of past centuries. These works, if hard to find today, will be impossible to locate a hundred years from now.
* '''Ratigan''' refers to [[Clive Rattigan]], new owner of ''The Pioneer'', Sinnett's employer.
There are many whose spiritual longing and philosophical inquiry are too sacred to be exposed among strangers or even among friends who they suspect may have entirely different views. The fact is, it is the written word that allows the student the privacy of his own thoughts, that gives rise to the most profound aspirations and the most intuitive insights It is literature, then due to its impersonal character, its relative permanence and its very silence, that has motivated us.
</blockquote>


{{Col-end}}
Richard Robb wrote of [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's]] work '''[[The Secret Doctrine (book)|''The Secret Doctrine'']]''':
<blockquote>
''The Secret Doctrine'' is a timeless synthesis of philosophy, science, religion, history and metaphysics; its bibliography of over 1,000 books and journals draws upon many languages, and it has been called the most abstruse work in English.<ref>Richard Robb email to Michael Conlin. October 29, 2023. Theosophical Society in America Archives.</ref> 
</blockquote>


== Page 1 of Sinnett letter transcription, image, and notes ==
{|style="margin: 0 auto;"
| [[File:Wizards_Bookshelf_MEC_set.jpg|400px|center|thumb|SD Reference Series with Blavatsky books. Owned by Michael Conlin]]
|}
=== List of titles in the series ===


{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
* '''''The Divine Pymander of Hermes''''' translated from Arabic by John Everard.
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
* '''''The Virgin of the World: Hermes''''' translated by Dr. Anna Kingsford.
To
* '''''The Book of Enoch the Prophet''''' translated from Ethiopie by Richard Laurence.
M ...
* '''''Esoteric Budhism''''' by A.P. Sinnett. 1885 edition with annotations.
* '''''The Origin & Significance of the Gt Pyramid''''' by C. Staniland Wake.
* '''''The Eleusinian & Bacchic Mysteries''''' translated by Thomas Taylor, notes by Alex Wilder.
* '''''The Chaldean Account of Genesis''''' translated from Cuneiform tablets by George Smith.
* '''''Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas & Quiches''''' by Augustus LePleongeon.
* '''''The Theosophist: Volume I''''' edited by H.P. Blavatsky. 320p.
* '''''On the Mysteries: Iamblichus''''' translated by Thomas Taylor.
* '''''The Desatir''''' (1818) translated by Mulla Firuz bin Kaus.
* '''''The Pythagorean Triangle''''' by George Oliver.
* '''''Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery in the Source of Measures, + index & notes''''' by J. Ralston Skinner.
* '''''The Gnostics & Their Remains''''' by Charles W. King.
* '''''Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated''''' by Samson Arnold Mackay. Revised 2nd edition 1826.
* '''''The Zohar (Bereshith)''''' translated by Nurho de Manhar
* '''''Theon of Smyrna: Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato''''' translated by Robert & Deborah Lawlor.
* '''''Surya Siddhanta (Hindu astronomy)''''' translated by E. Burgess & W.D. Whitney.
* '''''New Platonism & Alchemy''''' by Dr. Alexander Wilder.
* '''''The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac''''' by T. Subba Row.
* '''''Plato: Cratylus, Phaedo, Parmenides, Timaeus, & Critius''''' translated by Thomas Taylor. (1793 edition, reset).
* '''''Ancient Fragments of the Egyptian Phoenician, etc.''''' translated by I.P. Cory. 1832 edition.
* '''''Posthumous Humanity''''' by Adolphe D'Assier translated by Henry S. Olcott.
* '''''The Anugita''''' translated by K.T. Telang.
* '''''Mythical Monsters''''' by Charles Gould.
* '''''Life & Teachings of Paracelsus''''' by Dr. Franz Hartmann.
* '''''The Qabbalah''''' by Isaac Myer, intro by H.P. Blavatsky.
* '''''Sepher Yetzireh''''' translated by W. W. Westcott.
* '''''Sod, the Sun of Man''''' by S.F. Dunlap.


I am more than pleased to find you are getting to tolerate me to some extent. In that case it will not ... you to receive letters from me and you can ... .............
== Other books published ==


I should like you to read a letter I wrote to my boss and friend, your brother (from a very full heart) on my way up here, at Soleni! It would probably show you, even more than my mere words for you can as we say read between the lines –
* '''''Astronomy & Astrology of the Babylonians''''' by A.H. Sayce.
 
* '''''Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on H.P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine'''''.
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
* '''''The Lost Fragments of Proclus''''' translated by Thomas Taylor.
 
* '''''The Books of Kiu-Te in the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras''''' by David Reigle.
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
* '''''H.P. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine''''' by Max Heindel.
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_1.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_1_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
* '''Boss and friend, your brother''' refers to [[Mahatma]] [[Koot Hoomi]].
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 2 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
what I feel about him. But for me, a better assurance that there may be some good stuff in me than is afforded by the fact that I appreciate him, is even conveyed in the blessed certainty I have that he entertains a real regard for me, in spite of all my earthiness. As for that I have never resolved not to try and shake it off, but that would be a large undertaking; I have never yet felt sure that I could carry it through, nor has my revered friend ever explicitly
 
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_2.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_2_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 3 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
enjoined me to do so, I fear he does not think I could carry it through. My ambition has hitherto been to be useful to him, and you all in my own small way, in the world when my daily work, and to some extent my tastes and habits chain me. I am not too proud to look for my reward in your protection and help upwards somehow, in the end, and in some closer acquaintance with him ultimately, for which as I have sat reading his letters my heart has often ached with desire. Pardon for once the egotism of the letter. I am
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_3.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_3_thm.jpg] 
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 4 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
trying to introduce myself to you.
 
You speak of my thirst for phenomena. I do not thirst for any thing that can be called tamasha. What I do long for is the privilege of direct communion with the Occult World and him especially. That may involve the exercise of phenomenic powers on your side, but the thing I aspire to is the personal communion not the display of magic. I do not say I am worthy of this, but the aspiration at all events
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_4.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_4_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 5 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
is not an unworthy one. I could write reams on this subject. Don’t think I am worrying you with importunate requests. I am not asking for any thing, I wish and hope. But I have too many faults to want others imputed to me which I do not possess. I am not craving for the mere sensation of gaping at wonders but I know what a powerful engine these may be in shaking the foundations of erroneous beliefs in the Western mind
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_5.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_5_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 6 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
so I do not undervalue even the mere unexplained wonders producible by your power.
 
My notion of how best to profit by your kind inclination to help us would be to take that long passage from K.H.’s long letter to me rec’d at Bombay which I have extracted and which is now in our Societys minute book and amplify it at all points, into a complete exposition (as far as that might
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_6.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_6_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 7 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
be possible compatibly with the rules which entrust you) if the Adepts’ knowledge about the origin progress and destinies of human creatures before and after this life. This process of amplification would bring us back to the metaphysical first principles about which Hume has been writing lately ; but though an ..., I think it would practically be the best way of working. But if I do it the work can best be done slowly for I have my daily
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_7.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_7_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 8 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
Pioneer work to do and the bare fulfillment of duty to the paper takes up the greater part of  my working energy every day I could not have written even my “Occult World” slight a thing as it is the most of my Pioneer work. It was my holiday house that enabled me to do it. So if I can keep Hume up to the mark the work may be got through quicker that way, and we may the sooner have some substantial teaching to offer to the world. However
 
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_8.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_8_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 9 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
I shall set to work in my own way too (my own slow way, alas!) and I shall try and work so as to render the task of helping me if you are kindly willing as little troublesome as possible.
 
But meanwhile it is most aggravating that we do not get more members. We hoped that the dignified course of not openly seeking to enlist them would be best but
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_9.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_9_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 10 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
dignified passivity on our part does not seem to answer. I should greatly like to get together a respectable group of new members to exhibit to our dear patron when he comes to this life again – But it seems to me a little too soon as yet to run the risk of finally alienating Hume’s sympathies by taking the direction of things out of his hands.
 
It is a tangled situation altogether but I do not by any means despair
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_10.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_10_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 11 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
of its smoothing out by degrees.
 
I shall reply fully to Damodars letter, and submit my answer to your perusal before sending it, in case you think it worthwhile to read it.
 
Really grateful for your recent inclination towards me.
 
Yours very respectfully,
AP Sinnett
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_11.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_11_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Page 12 ==
 
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
Read and destroy. Fear not everything lovely M ... ... ... I am in his ... by your deed  Yes – your deed is not the meri... K.H. – ... Kashmir he is now stiff for a month, passing his Samadhi of three months before his final initiation and - it is ...t... trial which not one out of three pass it happily. ... if I send you Hume’s answer to Saturday Review.  Ratigan Pioneer’s pro ... forced the bottle[-]nosed Editor of C & M [Gazette] to publish it. I will send you the Tribune full of in and out defense Mr Hume sent editors to the best papers to Hindu [Hindoo] Patriot, A B Patrika Englishman etc. if they all printed them
 
{{Col-break|width=3%}}
 
{{Col-break|width=15%}}
 
[http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_12.jpg http://www.theosophy.wiki/mywiki/images/ML/UnpubM10_12_thm.jpg]
 
{{Col-break|width=30%}}
 
'''NOTES:'''
*
 
{{Col-end}}
 
== Context and background ==
Master M. was corresponding with Sinnett during the period in late 1881 when [[Koot Hoomi|Master K.H.]] was in retreat. M. responded to many questions from Sinnett and [[A. O. Hume]], resulting in the '''[[Cosmological Notes]]'''.
 
== Physical description of letter ==
 
Three sheets of paper were written on both sides and folded to make 12 pages. Letterhead of [[The Pioneer (periodical)|''The Pioneer'']] was used, as can be seen in the imprints on pages 1, 5, and 9. Notations here by M. are in blue-green ink, although he generally used red ink. This letter is in a private collection.
 
== Publication history ==
 
This letter has never been published before.  
 
== Commentary about this letter ==
 
The chief significance of this letter is that it is a rare example of Sinnett's side of his correspondence with the Mahatmas. Sinnett sincerely asks M. for assistance in understanding the occult.
 
== Additional resources ==


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
<references/>
<references/>


[[Category:ML from Morya]]
[[Category:Publishing companies|Wizards Bookshelf]]
[[Category:ML to A. P. Sinnett]]
[[Category:ML with images]]
[[Category:ML previously unpublished]]

Latest revision as of 16:23, 26 April 2024

Books by Wizards Bookshelf

Wizards Bookshelf was a publishing house operated by Blavatsky scholar Richard Robb. The company was founded in Minneapolis in 1972, and later moved to San Diego, California. It continued producing books until 2006[?].

The Secret Doctrine Reference Series

History of the series

Mr. Robb wrote about the beginnings of Wizards Bookshelf in Sunrise in November 1975:

The Secret Doctrine was written for the Western world to stem the tide of abject materialism. No messenger made his appearance in glowing aura to impress the multitude and, if he had, he would probably have been completely ignored. Instead, we have a book designed to gain acceptance in the minds of thinking men for many long years to come. The form and content of the S.D. is such that the student is constantly referred to the thoughts and ideas of hundreds of authors, all of whom are generally tending in the same direction.

Some people have claimed that the 750 and more books cited are merely proofs. But what are proofs? If these references are by sheer weight of numbers designed to force people to believe the validity of the teachings developed in the S.D., then surely the exposition could have been far more explicit and detailed, thus removing from the mind of the inquirer any chance of doubt. But this is not the case. As stated in the Preface, there is simply not room enough to explain the complete scheme of nature in two volumes. It would take a thousand volumes. Moreover, the ideas expressed are often obscure to the Western mind, because we have no background. Background in these areas is best supplied by the very sources that are used, and the reader will discover that there are perhaps 40 or 50 out of the 750+ books referred to that are mentioned with regularity. When I first became interested in The Secret Doctrine, an interest that was fostered by happenstance — an encounter with a copy of The Mahatma Letters in a small bookstore in New Orleans — I felt the work was utterly impossible, that there was little chance that I would ever be able to understand it. However, I found parts so interesting that I continued to read. Whole paragraphs passed without the least bit of comprehension, but occasionally a page really made sense to me.

That was in 1965. Several people told me that the S.D. could not be read per se, but used only as a sort of dictionary or reference work. Be that as it may, I started and read the entire two volumes all the way through. When I had finished, two things were uppermost in my mind: first, that I was utterly ignorant; and secondly, that my education had left me totally unprepared for the study of The Secret Doctrine. Here was a range of knowledge that required effort and scholarly endeavor, books that I had never heard of before, whole subject areas that were foreign to me. As it turned out, I really was motivated to begin my education over again. And in so doing I set out to find some of the books quoted or referred to in the S.D. Of course, these were rather scarce and I didn't locate them immediately. However, after a time I discovered a copy of The Source of Measures on a used book list and sent away for it. The parts of Skinner's treatise that I did understand were an absolute revelation to me. "Why," I thought, "hadn't the Masons made a point of preserving this text, so rare and valuable as it is?" Inquiries of local Masons indicated that they possessed little knowledge of the subject matter. At length, I became convinced of the absolute necessity of preserving the text of The Source of Measures, regardless of cost or its public acceptance. Some day, somewhere, there would be men who would fasten upon these ideas. Though utterly unacquainted with the publishing industry, I did finally succeed in reprinting 535 copies. Response to advertisements was nonexistent. However, a few copies were sold, and I was encouraged to the extent that I considered a second title — The Book of Enoch. Since then the list of titles has steadily grown.

Thus the "Secret Doctrine Reference Series" (published by Wizards Bookshelf) came into being. It is fundamentally designed to guarantee future generations access to the ideas contained in the already rare and difficult-to-obtain titles of past centuries. These works, if hard to find today, will be impossible to locate a hundred years from now. There are many whose spiritual longing and philosophical inquiry are too sacred to be exposed among strangers or even among friends who they suspect may have entirely different views. The fact is, it is the written word that allows the student the privacy of his own thoughts, that gives rise to the most profound aspirations and the most intuitive insights It is literature, then due to its impersonal character, its relative permanence and its very silence, that has motivated us.

Richard Robb wrote of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's work The Secret Doctrine:

The Secret Doctrine is a timeless synthesis of philosophy, science, religion, history and metaphysics; its bibliography of over 1,000 books and journals draws upon many languages, and it has been called the most abstruse work in English.[1]

SD Reference Series with Blavatsky books. Owned by Michael Conlin

List of titles in the series

  • The Divine Pymander of Hermes translated from Arabic by John Everard.
  • The Virgin of the World: Hermes translated by Dr. Anna Kingsford.
  • The Book of Enoch the Prophet translated from Ethiopie by Richard Laurence.
  • Esoteric Budhism by A.P. Sinnett. 1885 edition with annotations.
  • The Origin & Significance of the Gt Pyramid by C. Staniland Wake.
  • The Eleusinian & Bacchic Mysteries translated by Thomas Taylor, notes by Alex Wilder.
  • The Chaldean Account of Genesis translated from Cuneiform tablets by George Smith.
  • Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas & Quiches by Augustus LePleongeon.
  • The Theosophist: Volume I edited by H.P. Blavatsky. 320p.
  • On the Mysteries: Iamblichus translated by Thomas Taylor.
  • The Desatir (1818) translated by Mulla Firuz bin Kaus.
  • The Pythagorean Triangle by George Oliver.
  • Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery in the Source of Measures, + index & notes by J. Ralston Skinner.
  • The Gnostics & Their Remains by Charles W. King.
  • Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated by Samson Arnold Mackay. Revised 2nd edition 1826.
  • The Zohar (Bereshith) translated by Nurho de Manhar
  • Theon of Smyrna: Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato translated by Robert & Deborah Lawlor.
  • Surya Siddhanta (Hindu astronomy) translated by E. Burgess & W.D. Whitney.
  • New Platonism & Alchemy by Dr. Alexander Wilder.
  • The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac by T. Subba Row.
  • Plato: Cratylus, Phaedo, Parmenides, Timaeus, & Critius translated by Thomas Taylor. (1793 edition, reset).
  • Ancient Fragments of the Egyptian Phoenician, etc. translated by I.P. Cory. 1832 edition.
  • Posthumous Humanity by Adolphe D'Assier translated by Henry S. Olcott.
  • The Anugita translated by K.T. Telang.
  • Mythical Monsters by Charles Gould.
  • Life & Teachings of Paracelsus by Dr. Franz Hartmann.
  • The Qabbalah by Isaac Myer, intro by H.P. Blavatsky.
  • Sepher Yetzireh translated by W. W. Westcott.
  • Sod, the Sun of Man by S.F. Dunlap.

Other books published

  • Astronomy & Astrology of the Babylonians by A.H. Sayce.
  • Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on H.P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine.
  • The Lost Fragments of Proclus translated by Thomas Taylor.
  • The Books of Kiu-Te in the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras by David Reigle.
  • H.P. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine by Max Heindel.

Notes

  1. Richard Robb email to Michael Conlin. October 29, 2023. Theosophical Society in America Archives.