Old Diary Leaves - 1874-98 (Set of 6 Volumes)

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This series, in six volumes, relates the fascinating events that occurred in the founding and early days of The Theosophical Society. Col. H. S. Olcott, President-Founder, kept detailed diaries from which these books were written, covering the years 1874 to 1898.

Oltott tells of his association with his co- founder, Madame H. P. Blavatsky, and their work together for the cause of Theosophy. He writes of their contacts with the Mahatmas, of travels in many lands, and of the growth of The Theosophical Society from its small beginnings In New York in 1875 to an expanding international movement spread through many parts of the world.

To keep intact the true flavour of the early years of the Theosophical Society, Col. Olcott's words are presented just as he wrote them. His comments include references to occasional differences of opinion with his close and trusted colleague, H. P. Blavatsky. These very human differences perhaps will cause the reader to react with a smile of relief, knowing that great leaders such as these were also subject to human frailty and to times of disagreement. Old Diary Leaves gives a personal evaluation only, and is not intended to represent an official history of The Theosophical Society.

Henry Steel Olcott was born on 2 August 1832 in Orange, New Jersey. In his early life he became distinguished in the field of agriculture, and then later for his services to the US Government during the Civil War. In 1874, when investigating spiritualistic phenomena for some New York newspapers, he met H. P. Blavatsky and together they became the principal founders of The Theosophical Society. He devoted the rest of his life to work for the Society and related causes. He died on 17 February, 1907 at Adyar, Madras (now Chennai), India.

In the history of public bodies, the chapter which relates the origin and vicissitudes of the Theosophical Society should be unique. Whether viewed from the friendly or the un- friendly standpoint, it is equally strange that such a body should have come into existence when it did, and that it has not only been able to withstand the shocks it has had, but actually to have grown stronger proportionately with the bitter unfairness of its adversaries. One class of critics say that this fact strikingly proves a recrudescence of human credulity, and a religious unrest which is preliminary to a finalsubsidence upon Western conservative lines. The other see in the progress of the movement the sign of a world-wide acceptance of Eastern philosophical ideas, which must work for the reinvigoration and incalculable broadening of the spiritual sympathies of mankind.

Thepatent, the undeniable fact is, that up to the close of the year 1894, as the result of but nineteen years of activity, charters had been granted for 394 branches of the Society, in almost all parts of the habitable globe; and that those issued in that latest year out- numbered the yearly average since the founda- tion, in 1875, by 29.9 per cent. Statistically viewed, the relentless and unfair attack which the Society for Psychical Research and the Scottish Missionaries delivered against it in 1884, and which it was hoped would destroy it, merely resulted in very largely augmenting its prosperity and usefulness. The latest assault-that through the Westminster Gazette- must inevitably have the same ending.

**Contents and Sample Pages**