Vol 12 Page 653

COMPILER’S NOTE

[E. S. Instructions I, II and III are the actual words of H.P.B. They are therefore genuine texts, the authorship of which is not in doubt, as originals bearing her signature are extant.

This, however, cannot be said about Instructions IV and V, and the First Supplementary Paper to Instruction IV. Originally, when printed by the H.P.B. Press in London, all the three were signed jointly by Annie Besant and William Quan Judge. When printed by the Aryan Press in New York, Instruction IV was the only one signed jointly, while the other two were signed by W. Q. Judge alone.

These later Instructions are based on H.P.B.’s words taken down in shorthand and in the form of Notes by some of her students during the meetings of the Inner Group in London. The text that has come down to us exhibits many uncertainties.

We include them in the present Volume with some reservations, even though many passages in them are doubtless by H.P.B. herself.

The best discussion of the background of this later material may be found in The Theosophical Forum (Point Loma, Calif.), Volume XVI, April, May, June, 1940; XVII, July, August, September, October, November, December, 1940; Vol. XVIII, January, February, March, April, 1941, wherein Dr. Joseph H. Fussell, formerly secretary to Mr. Judge, presented the available data in a Series entitled “Leaves of Theosophical History: H.P.B.’s ‘Inner Group.’ ”]