WCP3016

[1]

New York

302 W. 47th St.

Nov 27 1875

Alfred R Wallace Esq^re.

Dear Sir,

I hope that in venturing to ask your acceptance of the first work I have ever written — "Isis Unveiled"¹ you will not think me too presumptuous. Better than any one else I know its faults and deficiencies. But, while I can expect no indulgence from the ordinary critic on the score of being a foreigner and quite unaccustomed to literary work, I yet hope that a few of the facts of my personal experience may interest you, who have given so much attention to spiritual and psychological phenomena and are so exceptionally competent to appreciate the weird and endless mysteries of the invisible world of spirit.

My title is really a misnomer for I do not reveal the arcane secrets of the dread goddess Isis. Needless to tell you who have lived in the East, that the final mysteries and secrets of initiation are never given to the general public. The book was to have been called "The Veil of Isis", and the first volume was stereotyped before I learned that Mr. Winwood Reade^2,3 had anticipated me, and I had to do my best to alter the title of my work. There are, however, facts in my book that should be known alike to those who advocate and those who oppose the study of Spiritualism. If the latter does not soon develop into a philosophy and a science its fanatical votaries will drag it down, and it will fail to satisfy the reasonable expectations [2] of a public which is outgrowing the tyranny of Theology and materialistic science.

If I do not uncover altogether the Saitic goddess, I hope to have at least sufficiently indicated where the veil of her shrine can be raised by those who are ready to conform to the four cardinal rules of so called "magic" or occult Psychology — to Know, Will, Dare, and Keep silent. Behind the veil lies the key to modern spiritualistic phenomena, and there alone can be discovered the secret of secrets: what is man, his origin, his powers and destiny.

With assurances of my profound regard

Believe me, dear sir, | faithfully yours, | H P Blavatsky⁴[signature]

Corresponding Secretary of the Theosophical Society of New York.