Edward Maitland

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Edward Maitland

Edward Maitland (October 27, 1824 - October 2, 1897). English humanitarian, writer, and seer. He is best known for his collaboration with Dr. Anna Kingsford on their 1882 book, The Perfect Way, or the Finding of Christ.

Personal life

Maitland was born at Ipswich, England, on October 27, 1824. His father, Charles David Maitland, a noted preacher, and Edward Maitland was brought up among strict evangelical ideas, and rigorous theories about original sin and atonement.

He was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, from which he graduated B.A. in 1847. Although his family expected him to take orders, he did not, due to doubts about faith and church. Maitland died on October 2, 1897.

Involvement with Theosophical Society

On January 3, 1883, Maitland was admitted as a member of the Theosophical Society in London.

Clairvoyance

In 1857 he took up an advanced humanitarian attitude and also claimed to have developed a new sense by which he was able to discern the spiritual condition of people. He said had succeeded at. . .

. . . developing the intuitional faculty as to find the solution of all problems having their basis in man's spiritual nature, with a view to the formulation of a perfect system of thought and rule of life.

In one of his letters, Mahatma K.H. recognizes the fact that Maitland was clairvoyant. However, because he had not been systematically trained, his visions were not accurate. The Mahatma comments on the fact that, although "Jesus and John the Baptist" as well as "Hermes the first and second and Elijah" were clearly visible and audible to Maitland, these visions were the creation of what he believed in and wanted to see.

Writings

The Perfect Way

Maitland's best-known work was co-authored with Anna Bonus Kingsford. The Perfect Way, or, The Finding of Christ

• 1st edition - London: Field & Tuer, 1882. Available at Hathitrust and Google Books. Also published in 1882 - New York: Scribner & Welford.
• 2nd edition - London: Field & Tuer ; New York: Adams, 1887. Revised and enlarged. Also published in Boston - Boston: Esoteric Pub. Co., 1888.
• 3rd edition - London: Field & Tuer; New York, Scribner & Walford, 1890. Available at Hathitrust.
• 4th edition - London: J.M. Watkins, 1909. Available at Internet Archive and [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7177438M/The_perfect_way
• 5th edition - London: J.M. Watkins, 1923. With additions and a biographical pref. by Samuel Hopgood Hart.
• 7th edition - New York, Macoy Pub. & Masonic Supply Co., 1919. Available at Hathitrust and Internet Archive.

Other work with Anna Bonus Kingsford

• The Virgin of the World of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus. London: George Redway, 1885. 154 pages. "Now first rendered into English with essay, introductions and notes by Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland."
• The Keys of the Creeds. London, Trübner, 1875. "Letters written between 1873 and 1874 to Mrs. Anna Kingsford." Available at Hathitrust, Internet Archive, and other sources.
• "Clothed with the sun"; being the book of the illuminations of Anna (Bonus) Kingsford. London: George Redway, 1889. Available at Hathitrust and Internet Archive. Several more printings and editions.
• Dreams and Dream-stories. London: George Redway, 1888. "A collection of accounts of the author's dreams, somewhat fictionalized." Available at Gutenberg and Perlego.
• The Credo of Christendom: and other addresses and essays on esoteric Christianity. London: J.M. Watkins, 1916. 256 pages. "By Anna (Bonus) Kingsford; and some letters by Edward Maitland; biographical pref. and edited by Samuel Hopgood Hart."
• Addresses and Essays on Vegetarianism. London: J.M. Watkins, 1912. Contents: "By Anna Kingsford. Social considerations; Letters on pure diet; A lecture on food; The best food for man; The physiology of vegetarianism; Historical aspect of food reform; Some aspects of the vegetarian question; Addresses to vegetarians; Evolution and flesh-eating -- By Edward Maitland. Extracts from "England and Islam"; Vegetarianism in its higher aspects; Vivisection and vegetarianism; The higher aspects of vegetarianism; Evolution and freethought; The highest aspects of vegetarianism Vegetarianism, the common sense of it ; Man's best food; Vegetarianism and antiquity; Vegetarianism and the Bible. "Biographical preface, and edited by Samuel Hopgood Hart."
• How the World Came to an End in 1881. London: Field & Tuer, 1884. Available at Hathitrust.
• Reply to the "Observations" of Mr. T. Subba Row, C.T.S. London: Printed by the National Press Agency, 1884. "By the President and a Vice-President of the London Lodge, T.S. Being a letter to the Fellows of the L.L.T.S."
• A letter addressed to the Fellows of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society. Shrewsbury: Bunny & Davies, 1883. "A criticism by Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland of A.P. Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism." "By the President and a Vice-President of the Lodge."

Other nonfiction

• Anna Kingsford, Her Life, Letters, Diary and Work. London : George Redway, 1896. 3rd edition - London: John M. Watkins, 1913 - is available at Hathitrust, Internet Archive, WellcomeCollection, and other sources.
• Jewish literature and modern education: or, The use and misuse of the Bible in the schoolroom. London, Trübner, 1872. Available at Hathitrust and Internet Archive. Previously published by the author at Ramsgate [England] : Published for the Author by T. Scott, 1871.
• England and Islam: or, The Counsel of Caiaphan. London: Tinsley Bros., 1877. 636 pages. Available at Google Books.
• The Utilisation of the Church Establishment: a letter to Thos. Scott, Esq (of Ramsgate). Ramsgate: Thomas Scott, 1870. Pamphlet. 26 pages.
• How to Complete the Reformation: a Lecture. Ramsgate: Thomas Scott, 1870. Pamphlet. 44 pages. Available at Hathitrust.
• Vivisection. Written with Edward Carpenter. London, W. Reeves, 1893. 53 pages. Humanitarian League, London. Publication no. 6.
• The Passion for Intellectual Freedom: a lecture delivered before the Sunday Lecture Society, January 15, 1871. Ramsgate: Thomas Scott, 1871. 38 pages. Scott's Series. Tracts no. 7.
• Lost Letters of Edward Maitland. Bristol: Imagier Publishing,, 2014. 353 pages. Edited with an introduction and notes by Brian G. McAllister.
• The Bible's Own Account of Itself. Birmingham: Ruskin Press, 1905. Available at Internet Archive.
• The Story of the New Gospel of Interpretation. London: Lamley & Co., 1893. Available at Hathitrust.
• The soul, and how it found me. Being a narrative of phenomena connected with the production of "England and Islam." London: Maitland, 1877. 307 pages. Available at Google Books.
• The Meaning of the Age: a farewell lecture delivered at the School of Arts, Sydney, N.S.W., January 9, 1858. [Place of publication not identified]: [publisher not identified], Printed by E. Trill), 1858. 24 pages.
• The "New Gospel of Interpretation": being an abstract of the doctrine and a statement of the origin, object, basis, method and scope of the Esoteric Christian Union. London: Lamley & Co., 1892. 93 pages.
• National Education. A speech delivered at a public meeting held at the Town Hall, Brighton, on March 2, 1870. London, 1870.
• The Church and the Citizen. Ramsgate: Thomas Scott, 1872. 13 pages.

Fiction

• By and By: an Historical Romance of the Future . London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1973. Available at Internet Archive, Hathitrust, and other sources. London: Tinsley Bros, 1876 edition is available at Hathitrust. Many other editions, such as New York: Putnam, 1893 and a reprint Boston: Gregg Press, 1977. 460 pages, illustrations. Science fiction.
• The Pilgrim and the Shrine, or Passages from the life and correspondence of Herert Ainslie.. London: Tinsley Bros., 1868. Three volumes. Available at Hathitrust and other sources.
• Higher Law: a Romance. Second edition - London: Tinsley, 1871. Available at Hathitrust.
• The Battle of Mordialloc, or, How We Lost Australia. Melbourne: Samuel Mullens,, 1888. 67 pages. "Purports to be the author's publication in 1896 of a manuscript by a shipboard acquaintance, Herbert Ainslie." Dystopic fiction.

Periodicals

The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists 12 articles by Edward Maitland and 24 articles about him.

Additional resources

Articles

• Edward Maitland (writer) in Wikipedia.

Archival collections

• Mary Anne Atwood Papers, 1882-1910. The Mary Anne Atwood Papers contains about 700 letters and manuscripts for the period 1882-1910. Most of the letters in the collection are written from M.A. Atwood to Mme. Isabelle de Steiger. The collection also includes other letters written and received by Atwood, manuscript drafts and notes. According to the admirers of Mary Anne Atwood, "Mrs. Atwood was truly an adept [of the metaphysical tradition]. The last one." "The Atwood material is very important for the study of a vanished Britain, when Neo-Platonism and High Ideas influenced the nation. But, as Mrs. Atwood says, they went in for power and threw their spiritual heritage out the window." Autograph letters signed; autograph manuscripts. Letters to Mme. de Steiger; drafts of manuscripts by Mrs. Atwood concerning alchemy, heraldry, metaphysics, mythology, neo-Platonism, ontology, theosophy, typewritten notes by previous owner. Letters contain explanation and discussion of Mrs. Atwood's views as a theosophist, with repeated condemnation of "Modern occultism" and of modern science. Frequent references to Mrs. A. W. Besant, H. P. Blavatsky (H.P.B.), A. P. Sinnett, Max Mueller, and to periodicals Light, Theosophical Review, Lucifer, Broad Views. Personal remarks provide picture of life on Yorkshire estate and neighborhood, and her views on politics and the Boer War. Access: http://www.riamco.org/render.php?eadid=US-RPB-msatwood&view=title.