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NOTE ON “TIME, SPACE, AND ETERNITY”

[The Theosophist, Vol. IV, No. 3, December, 1882, pp. 69-71]

[Under the above title H. P. B. publishes a review by “M. A. (Oxon.)” of a rare work called The Stars and the Earth, London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1880. Concerning the authorship of this book, she writes in a footnote:]*
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* [The complete title of this work is The Stars and the Earth; or thoughts upon space, time and eternity. It was published anonymously by Baillière in London in 1846-47, and the edition reviewed in The Theosophist is the revised and enlarged edition with Notes by the well-known astronomer, R. A. Proctor. In the Listings of Anonymous works, as well as in Keyser’s Bücher-Lexicon, the original title is stated to have been Die Gestirne und die Weltgeschichte: Gedanken über Raum, Zeit und Ewigkeit. The work is attributed to Gustav Eberty and was published by G. P. Aderholz at Breslau in 1847. It is supposed to be only a small book of 60 pages.—Compiler.]
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Its authorship has, we believe, never been disclosed. From Mr. Ballière himself we had, when purchasing a copy of the original edition, some thirty years ago, the story of its publication. One day Mr. Ballière received by post the MSS of this little work, with a bank note for £50 and a letter of a few lines without signature, to the effect that this sum was sent to defray the costs of publication. Mr. R. A. Proctor, the astronomer, speaks most highly of it in a recent publication and, in fact, it has always been recognized as one of the ablest essays in contemporaneous literature. Does M.A. (Oxon) suspect its author?

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