Annie Besant : The Path Of Discipleship [ Theosophy , Personal Copy of Helen Campbell ]
$500
Out of stock
Description
Scarce first edition Theosophy book owned and annotated by noted members and New Thought literature collaborators Helen Campbell and Katharine Westendorf
Besant, Annie. The Path of Discipleship: four lectures delivered at the twentieth anniversary of the Theosophical society, at Adyar, Madras, December 27, 28, 29 and 30, 1895. Theosophical Publishing Society. London. 1896. First Edition.
This first edition copy of The Path of Discipleship by Annie Besant consists of four lectures on self-purification, thought control, and spiritual advancement and bears the presentation inscription between two American theosophists and literary collaborators in the same year as their publication as well as numerous annotations.
Apparently acquired by vocalist and Theosophist Katharine Westendorf in Denver in 1897 (shortly after her arrival from Cincinnati as noted by Unitarian Rev. Paul Tyner, editor of the Colorado-based New Thought journal The Temple in his essay Thinking All Over), her initial ownership inscription is followed by another in the same hand presenting the book to Helen Campbell that December. Helen Campbell, a prolific writer and editor of New Thought, Women’s Advancement, and other subjects — including the classic of urban vice and crime Darkness and Daylight or Lights and Shadows of New York Life— was a noted advocate for Theosophy at the turn of the 20th century prior to her conversion to Baha’i in around 1908.
The sole known collaboration between the two women, The Heart Of It, was published in January 1897 and consists of extracts from The Power of Silence and The Perfect Whole by Horatio Dresser, two works which the editors felt sufficiently important to spread in distilled form. Described in her introduction as a “labor of love”, Campbell is quick to point out that “Mrs. Westendorf’s final judgement of the book meant to my own mind more than a thousand average reviewers could effect” describing her as “a profound student of religions, philosophies, and life, a worker of the noblest order, with an insight and a critical quality that are always unfailing tests of the value of the book or word”.
Specifically, Campbell remarks on Westendorf’s style of annotating her books, “every salient point, every choice passage, was marked; and it is these marking that form the present volume” a habit which is perhaps reflected in the numerous pencil underlines and emphases found in the present volume. The selection of numerous lines about Raja Yoga-style mind control reflect sentiments expressed in The Heart of It and effectively capture the influence of Eastern thought and Theosophy (in addition to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Christian Science) on the emergence of New Thought. Amusingly, one underlined section specifically cautions against reading too much.
8vo, tan cloth boards. Red stain to front board top edge, soiling to top of back board edge. Corners and spine ends bumped. Ownership and presentation inscription on first free endpaper. Numerous pencil marks throughout. Occasional doggearring. Good condition.
If you liked this book, you might also enjoy this copy of Andrew Jackson Davis’ The Penetralia owned by the wife of Medium John Fuller.
