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'''J. Augustus Knapp''' was an American [[Theosophist]] and artist best known for his suburb illustrations of [[Manly Palmer Hall|Manly P. Hall's]] masterwork '''''The Secret Teachings of All Ages''''' and many works of science fiction and fantasy.
[[File:WIZARDS - Mythical Monsters and other works.jpg|right|240px|thumb|Books by Wizards Bookshelf]]
'''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[?].  


[[File:J A Knapp as young man .jpg|right|150px|thumb|Young J. A. Knapp]]
== The Secret Doctrine Reference Series ==
== Personal life ==


John Augustus Knapp was born in Newport, Kentucky on December 1, 1853. He studied at the McMicken School of Design in Cincinnati.
=== History of the series ===


He died in Los Angeles on March 10, 1938.
Mr. Robb wrote about the beginnings of Wizards Bookshelf in ''Sunrise'' in November 1975:
<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.


== Theosophical society involvement ==
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.
[[File:Scottish Rite 33rd degree.png|right|150px|thumb|Scottish Rite 33rd degree]]
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.
Knapp was admitted as a member of the [[Cincinnati Theosophical Society]] on January 19, 1892, giving his address as "Strobridge Lith. Co., Cincinnati, O."<ref>Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875-1942 at [http://tsmembers.org/ http://tsmembers.org/]. See book 1, entry 7876 (website file: 1C/49).</ref> Both he and his wife attended lodge meetings at the home of [[Jirah Dewey Buck|Dr. J. D. Buck]], and the also weekly  Secret Doctrine class studying [[The Secret Doctrine (book)|''The Secret Doctrine'']] using [[William Quan Judge|William Quan Judge’s]] new book [[The Ocean of Theosophy (book)|''The Ocean of Theosophy'']] as a guide.  


In 1895, when most branches (lodges) of the American Section voted to separate from the parent society in Adyar, the Cincinnati group also voted to follow William Quan Judge into establishment of a new national organization. Knapp
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.
continued to be active with that group rather than affiliating with the [[Theosophical Society (Adyar)|Theosophical Society in Adyar, India]]. On March 2, 1897, for example, he delivered a presentation on the "The Law of Duality in Manifested Nature."


== Freemasonry ==
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.
In addition to his activities in the Theosophical Society, Knapp was an honorary 33° Scottish Rite Freemason. Dr. Buck and [[James Ralston Skinner]] were also Masons in Cincinnati.
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>


[[File:Hail the Woman 1921.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Knapp (seated) painting a poster of Florence Vidor for Thomas Ince Studios]]
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>


== Artistic career ==
{|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 ===


Much of Knapp's career was spent in illustrating a wide variety of books and magazines &ndash; occult works, science fiction, poetry, and scientific drawings. One of his paintings that has been of special interest to Theosophists for decades is of [[Theosophical Society]] Founder [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]] seated, with three "Ascended Masters" around her. He also painted posters for Thomas Ince Studios in the early days of Hollywood filmmaking.
* '''''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.


=== Cincinnati years ===
== Other books published ==
Early in his career, he held positions in design and lithography at Russell Morgan Lithograph, Strobridge Lithograph, and Cincinnati Process Engraving. At Standard Publishing, he illustrated books and magazines, and it was there that he became acquainted with brothers Curtis Gates Lloyd and John Uri Lloyd.


His first collaboration with '''John Uri Lloyd''' was the hugely popular '''''Etidorhpa, or, the End of the Earth: the Strange History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of a Remarkable Journey''''' (1895), which was printed in eighteen editions and in seven languages. It is a fantastic tale of a hollow earth. The title is "Aphrodite" spelled backward. Other works included ''The Right Side of the Car'' (1897) and ''Felix Moses: the Beloved Jew of Stringtown on the Pike'' (1930).
* '''''Astronomy & Astrology of the Babylonians''''' by A.H. Sayce.
 
* '''''Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on H.P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine'''''.
Curtis Gates Lloyd commissioned the artist to create a portfolio of color illustrations of mushrooms. ''Plates of Fungi'' was  produced between 1910-20. The originals are displayed at the Lloyd Library and Museum.
* '''''The Lost Fragments of Proclus''''' translated by Thomas Taylor.
 
* '''''The Books of Kiu-Te in the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras''''' by David Reigle.
=== Los Angeles years ===
* '''''H.P. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine''''' by Max Heindel.
"In 1918, Knapp moved to Los Angeles, California, where he continued working as a designer, illustrator and painter, at one time employed by Thomas Ince Studios where he participated in the very early days of the movie industry."<ref>[https://arsmagine.com/others/john-augustus-knapp/ "John Augustus Knapp"] at ARSMagine website. Accessed 1/31/2023. Several Internet sources have the same wording.</ref>
 
He very likely came into contact with Theosophists at the [[Krotona in Hollywood|Krotona Institute in Hollywood]]; Rosicrucian ''Max Heindel''; astrologer and screenwriter [[Marc Edmund Jones]]; [[James M. Pryse]]; and, of course, [[Manly Palmer Hall]].
 
=== Manly Palmer Hall collaborations ===
 
Working with '''[[Manly Palmer Hall]]''' brought him an additional measure of fame. They worked together to design one of the most admired Tarot decks. Knapp illustrated many of Hall's occult books and periodicals, including:
 
* ''An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy: Being an Interpretation of the Secret Teachings Concealed within the Rituals, Allegories, and Mysteries of All Ages''. Privately printed by subscription in 1928, this work has been almost continuously in print since then in many editions and under various titles. For this work Knapp created fifty-four full-page color plates that are amazing in their depth of detail.  
* ''The Initiates of the Flame: He Who Lives the Life Shall Know the Doctrine''. Los Angeles, 1922. Later editions.
* ''The Lost Keys of Freemasonry or, the Secret of Hiram Abiff''. New York: Macoy, 1923. Many later editions.
* ''The Tarot: an Essay''. Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1978. Previous and later editions.
 
=== Other works ===
 
Many of Knapp's illustrations have probably not been credited to him, but his name is associated with these books:
* Collins, Laura Case. ''Egypt''.  Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company, 1900. A book of poetry.
* Euripedes, translated by James M. Pryse. ''The Adorers of Dionysos (Bakchai)''. London: Watkins, 1925.
 
Knapp also wrote his own book, '''''Divination with Tarot Cards''''', published by Llewellyn Publications in Los Angeles, 1936.
 
== Gallery of his work ==
 
<gallery widths="130px" heights="150px" perrow="5">
File:HPB with Ascended Masters.jpg|<center>HPB with Ascended Masters</center>
 
</gallery>
 
== Additional resources ==
 
=== Collections and archives ===
* [https://lloydlibrary.org/ Lloyd Library and Museum] in Cincinnati. Correspondence and plates.
 
=== Social Media ===
 
* '''[https://www.facebook.com/JAugustusKnapp/ J. Augustus Knapp]''' Facebook page.
* '''[https://www.pinterest.com/spiradingling/augustus-knapp/ Augustus Knapp]''' Pinterest page.


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
<references/>
<references/>
[[Category:Artists|Knapp, J. Augustus]]
 
[[Category:Nationality American|Knapp, J. Augustus]]
[[Category:Publishing companies|Wizards Bookshelf]]
[[Category:TS Adyar|Knapp, J. Augustus]]
[[Category:People|Knapp, J. Augustus]]

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.