Blavatsky Collected Writings and Books

H.P. Blavatsky wrote a whole lot during her life in the late 19th century. Her books were and are her best known work. They've been in print ever since.

Boris de Zirkoff started collecting his aunts (he was related to Blavatsky) quite early in life and started out making a series of Collected Works, but that material was lost.

Then he teamed up with Quest Publications, a publishing house of the Theosophical Society Adyar. They ended up doing the whole series. called The Blavatsky Collected Writings.

The result is 14 volumes of articles, notes and Blavatsky's diaries. Each volume has biographical details on the main people mentioned as well as a historical survey of the period and an index.

The series includes a reprint of The Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled - both with the excellent footnotes we've come to expect from Boris de Zirkoff.

Perhaps most interesting in the series is the collection of fictionalized stories of Blavatsky's travels in India. These were originally published in Russian, and have been translated especially for the Collected Writings series. The result is The Caves and Jungles of Hindostan.

A few years after the passing of Boris de Zirkoff John Algeo and Adele Algeo - helped by a team of theosophists of all theosophical organisations - brought out the first volume of the Collected Letters of Blavatsky. Included are (to the chagrin of some theosophists) letters that were probably not written by Blavatsky - but were forged to smear her name.
This doesn't detract from the volume in my opinion: each is free to ignore those letters. And even if one doesn't think Blavatsky wrote them, they are still a part of Theosophical History as it unfolded - controversies included.

For the few who want to practice theosophy as a spiritual path, Blavatsky wrote The Voice of the Silence - a book full of poetic aphorisms. This is the life of the Theosophical Society - and the sort of book one puts on ones bedside table to read a few lines in before going to bed. Pondering and transforming your life...

Not included in the official series is a copy of The Key to Theosophy. This book is a sort of catechism: an interested person asks questions about theosophy to 'theosophist'. Like most of Blavatsky's work this isn't for the foolish - but I personally found it quite easy to read.

Some books are eagerly awaited by only a select group. This book is one of them. That doesn't diminish their worth to their audience though: in this case theosophists who study The Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky seriously.

See the full review of The Secret Doctrine Commentaries: the Unpublished 1889 Instructions, transcribed and annotated by Michael Gomes.

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