Carbon Typescript of Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East, Vols. 1-3.
1935. n.d. c.1935?
Bound carbon copy typescript, 4to (20 x 25 cm). 316 leaves typed on versos only and numbered in three parts: 103; 96; 117 pp. 8 leaves with pencil annotations. Paper watermarked "Charles Martin Extra Strong." Bound in three quarter calf and red cloth over boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, edges stained red. Light wear and staining to the binding, final leaf creased, contents otherwise fine.
§ Carbon copy typescript of the first three volumes of Baird Spalding's, Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East, a milestone in spiritual literature and the books responsible for popularizing the concept of Ascended Masters among New Age thinkers in the United States.
In 1924 Spalding published the first volume of Life and Teachings, describing his travels to India and Tibet in 1894 as part of a research party of eleven scientists. During the trip he claimed they made contact with "the Great Masters of the Himalayas," immortal beings who imparted to them spiritual revelations and performed miracles such as walking on water and manifesting bread. Volume 1 and Volume 2 (1927) were published by the California Press in San Francisco. Volume 3 (1935) completed the story and marked the start of Spalding's enduring association with Douglas DeVorss a pioneer publisher of metaphysical books, then termed "New Thought," in Los Angeles. Volume 4 (1948) was compiled from interviews and the question and answer sessions that occured on Spalding's speaking tours. Volume 5 (1955) and Volume 6 (1996), published posthumously, collected other interviews and articles. The series remains in print with DeVorss Publications.
It seems most probable that this typescript relates to the 1935 publication of volume 3 and reissue of volumes 1 and 2 by DeVorss. For whom the copy was created is unclear. The binding has an air of reverence but is without marks of provenance. The occasional pencil annotations appear to be by an interested reader responding to ideas in the text and are not those of an editor or printer.
Douglas Devorss reportedly kept a tight hand on Spalding's papers (the biography Baird T. Spalding As I Knew Him by David Bruton is fascinating reading) and it seems likely almost everything that survives remains in the Devorss archives. Only one institutional holding relating to Spalding is listed on OCLC, a typescript with the same title held at Brigham Young University in Utah. It is described as a typewritten essay, 58 pages long, and is perhaps a separate expression of the ideas developed in the published books. No other manuscript material is listed on the market or in auction records. Item #125541
Price: $975.00