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[[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. Its purpose was to preserve and disseminate sources quoted by [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]] in her masterwork '''[[The Secret Doctrine (book)|''The Secret Doctrine'']]''' through the '''Secret Doctrine Reference Series'''.

== History ==

The company was founded in Minneapolis in 1972, and later moved to San Diego, California. It continued producing books until 2006, when the name and remaining stock were transferred to '''Mecosta Book Gallery''' in Mecosta, Michigan. The owners in Mecosta have been leaders in the American Section of the [[Theosophical Society (Pasadena)|Theosophical Society with international headquarters based in Pasadena, California]], and their website is at [https://wizardsbookshelf.com/mbg.html Mecosta Book Gallery].

== Impact ==

The quality and scholarship of the Wizards Bookshelf publications is greatly appreciated by scholars and libraries. For example, the [[Henry S. Olcott Memorial Library]] specified in its 2003 collection management policy that every title issued by this publisher should be purchased. Many academic libraries have committed to retain these books permanently. Organizations such as Internet Archive, Hathitrust, and Open Library that are dedicated to preservation of knowledge have digitized most of the Wizards Bookshelf titles. Access is limited now due to copyright laws, but the books are being preserved for future generations.

== The Secret Doctrine Reference Series ==

=== History of the series ===

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.

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 to A. P. Sinnett (book)|''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 [[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.

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.
</blockquote>

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>

{|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 ===

* '''''The Divine Pymander of Hermes''''' translated from Arabic by John Everard, 1884. San Diego, 1978. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822013051198 Hathitrust].
* '''''The Virgin of the World''''' Hermes Trismegistus, translated by Dr. Anna Kingsford. 1885. San Diego, 1987.
* '''''The Book of Enoch the Prophet''''' translated from Ethiopic by Richard Laurence, 1883. Minneapolis, 1973, 1976. San Diego, 1995. Available to borrow at [https://archive.org/details/bookofenochproph0000unse_a8y9 Internet Archive] and [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5091990M/The_Book_of_Enoch_the_prophet. Open Library].
* '''''Esoteric Budhism''''' by A.P. Sinnett, 1885, 5th edition with annotations by author. Minneapolis, 1973. San Diego, 1981. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3464678 Hathitrust].
* '''''The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid''''' by C. Staniland Wake, 1882. Minneapolis, 1975. San Diego, 1979. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822012507349 Hathitrust].
* '''''The Eleusinian & Bacchic Mysteries''''' translated by Thomas Taylor, with introduction, notes, emendations, and glossary by Alexander Wilder, 1875. San Diego, 1980, 1987 (3rd ed.) 
* '''''The Chaldean Account of Genesis: containing the description of the creation, the fall of man, the deluge, the tower of Babel, the times of the patriarchs, and Nimrod: Babylonian fables, and legends of the gods, from the cuneiform inscriptions''''' translated from Cuneiform tablets by George Smith, 1876. San Diego, 1994. Available to borrow at [https://archive.org/details/chaldeanaccounto0000smit Internet Archive] and [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8322531M/Chaldean_Account_of_Genesis Open Library].
* '''''Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas & Quiches, 11,500 years ago. Their relation to the sacred mysteries of Egypt, Greece, Chaldea and India.''''' by Augustus Le Pleongeon, 1886. Minneapolis, 1973. San Diego, 1986. Limited access at [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/628465.html Hathitrust].
* '''''The Theosophist: Volume I''''' edited by H.P. Blavatsky. 320p.
* '''''On the Mysteries of the Egyptian, Chaldeans, and Assyrians''''' by Iamblichus, translated by Thomas Taylor, 1821. San Diego, 1984, 1997. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x00226688 Hathitrust].
* '''''The Desatir: or, The sacred writings of the ancient Persian prophets, together with the commentary of the fifth Sasan''''' translated by Mulla Fīrūz ibn Kāvūs and Dhunjeebhoy Jamsetjee Medhora, 1818. Minneapolis, 1975, 1979.
* '''''The Pythagorean Triangle; or, The Science of Numbers''''' by George Oliver. San Diego, 1984.
* '''''Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery in the Source of Measures, originating the British inch and the ancient cubit, with index & notes''''' by J. Ralston Skinner, 1894. Minneapolis, 1972, 1975. San Diego, 1982. Limited access to the 1975 edition at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822013642277 Hathitrust]. The 1982 reprint included John Drais ''New Hebrew and Numerical index,''  which was also available separately as a paperback.
* '''''The Gnostics & Their Remains, Ancient and Mediaeval''''' by Charles W. King in 1887. Minneapolis, 1973. San Diego, 1982. Available at [https://archive.org/details/gnosticstheirre00king Internet Archive] and [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5429744M/The_Gnostics_and_their_remains_ancient_and_mediaeval. Open Library]. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000003903882 Hathitrust].
* '''''Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated''''' by Samson Arnold Mackay. Revised 2nd edition 1826.
* '''''The Zohar: Bereshith, Genesis: an expository translation from Hebrew''''' translated by Nurho de Manhar and John H. Drais. San Diego, 1978, 1980, 1995 (3rd rev.ed.)
* '''''Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato''''' by Theon of Smyrna, translated by Robert & Deborah Lawlor. San Diego, 1979. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106008441393 Hathitrust].
* '''''Surya Siddhanta (Hindu astronomy)''''' translated by E. Burgess & W.D. Whitney.
* '''''New Platonism and Alchemy: a sketch of the doctrines and principal teachers of the Eclectic or Alexandrian school; also an outline of the interior doctrines of the alchemists of the middle ages''''' by Dr. Alexander Wilder, 1869. Minneapolis, 1975.
* '''''The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac''''' by Tiruvalum Subba Row, 1881. Minneapolis, 1977.
* '''''Cratylus, Phaedo, Parmenides, Timaeus, & Critius''''' by Plato translated by Thomas Taylor, 1793 edition, reset. Minneapolis, 1975. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001147598 Hathitrust].
* '''''Ancient Fragments of the Phoenician, Chaldaean, Egyptian, Tyrian, Carthaginian, India, Persian, and other writers: with an introductory dissertation and an inquiry into the philosophy and trinity of the ancients''''' translated by Isaac Preston Cory, 1832. Minneapolis, 1975. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175016703327 Hathitrust].
* '''''Posthumous Humanity: a study of phantoms, to which is added an appendix shewing the popular beliefs current in India respecting the post-mortem vicissitudes of the human entity''''' by Adolphe D'Assier translated by Henry S. Olcott, 1887. San Diego, 1981.
* '''''The Anugita, being a translation of Sancrit manuscipts from the Asvamedha Parvan of the Mahabharata, and being a natural adjunct to the Bhagavad Gita''''' translated by Kashinath Tribak Telang. San Diego 1981.
* '''''Mythical Monsters''''' by Charles Gould. San Diego, 1981.
* '''''Life of Philippus Theophrastus, Bombast of Hohenheim: known by the name of Paracelsus, and the substance of his teachings concerning cosmology, anthropology, pneumatology, magic and sorcery, medicine, alchemy and astrology, philosophy and theosophy''''' by Dr. Franz Hartmann. San Diego, 1985.
* '''''The Qabbalah: the philosophical writings of Solomon ben Hehudah ibn Gebirol, or Avicebron, and their connection with the Hebrew Qabbalah and Sepher ha-Zohar... Also, an ancient lodge of initiates, translated from the Zohar, and an abstract of an essay upon the Chinese Qabbalah contained in the book called the Yih King''''' by Isaac Myer, intro by H.P. Blavatsky, 1888. San Diego, 1988.
* '''''Sepher Yetzireh''''' translated by W. W. Westcott.
* '''''Sōd, the Son of Man''''' by S.F. Dunlap, 1861. San Diego, 1998.
* '''''Index of Hebrew and Numerical Terms contained in The Source of Measures by J. Ralston Skinner''''' by John H. Drais. San Diego, 1982.
* '''''Secret Doctrine Questions & Answers''''' by Geoffrey A. Barborka. San Diego, 2003. Reprinted from ''The Canadian Theosophist''.

== Other books published ==

* '''''Astronomy & Astrology of the Babylonians, with translations of the tablets relating to these subjects''''' by Archibald H. Sayce. San Diego, 1981. Reprinted from the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology"; vol. 3. 1874, Pt. 1.
* '''''Symposium on H.P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine held at San Diego, California, Sat & Sun July 21-22, 1984; proceedings; seventeen papers from four countries'''''. San Diego, 1984.
* '''''The Fragments That Remain of the Lost Writings of Proclus, surnamed the Platonic successor''''' translated by Thomas Taylor, 1825. San Diego, 1988. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106008874809 Hathitrust].
* '''''The Books of Kiu-Te in the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras''''' by David Reigle. San Diego, 1983. Limited access at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x002266880 Hathitrust].
* '''''H.P. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine''''' by Max Heindel, 1933. San Diego, 1991.
* '''''Blavatsky's Secret Books: twenty years' research = Gsaṅ baʼi rgyud sid''''' by David and Nancy Reigle. San Diego, 1999.  
* '''''Secret Doctrine References Reprinted: a 1977 list'''''. San Diego, 1977. 22 pages.

== Additional resources ==

=== Articles ===

The IAPSOP website lists dozens of references to Wizards Bookshelf at [https://www.google.com/search?q=wizards+bookshelf&sitesearch=iapsop.com%2Farchive%2Fmaterials%2F this link]. Most are reviews or announcements in ''The Eclectic Theosophist'', ''Quest'' magazine, ''The Canadian Theosophist'', ''The Theosophist'', and other Theosophical journals.

=== Websites ===
* [https://www.wizardsbookshelf.com/ Wizards Bookshelf website]
* [https://wizardsbookshelf.com/mbg.html Mecosta Book Gallery website]

== Notes ==
<references/>

[[Category:Publishing companies|Wizards Bookshelf]]