Annie BESANT
(1847-1933) and Charles Webster LEADBEATER (1854-1934).
[Theosophy & esoteric spirituality]
Man: Whence, How and Whither. A record of clairvoyant investigation.
Adyar, Madras, &
Benares, & London: [printed by the Vasanta Press for the] Theosophical
Publishing House, 1913.
Octavo (9 ¼ x 6 ¼
inches). Pp. [i-iv; 1-]2-8[10;i-]v[-vi; i-ii, 1-]524. 1 double-page colored
frontispiece, 3 plates. (Some light soiling, a few leaves with slight damage to
blank margins). Original cloth (recased, endpapers replaced, short split to
upper joint). Provenance: Major-General James Alexander Kenneth Mackay
(1859-1935, inscribed ‘Kenneth Mackay / 1913”).
First edition with
an appropriate provenance: Kenneth Mackay was an enthusiastic supporter of
long standing and visited Adyar. Something of a polymath, he was a poet, a
speculative fiction writer and an Australian military figure of importance whose
death was recorded in the ‘Sixty-First Annua; General Report of the
Theosophical Society’ (Dyar, Madras: May 1937, p.4). The Mackay family papers
are in the National Library of Australia (MS 10290) and include correspondence
which touches on the Mackay’s interaction with Theosophy.
The present work is co-authored
by C.W. Leadbetter, a prominent theosophist, and Annie Besant, a prominent
British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, and supporter of
Indian and Irish self-rule. Published in 1913, it “presents their findings from
their clairvoyant investigations into various aspects of human existence,
including the origins, nature, and destiny of humanity. The book delves into
topics such as reincarnation, evolution, the afterlife, and the spiritual
hierarchy. Leadbeater and Besant claimed to have gained their insights through
their abilities as clairvoyants, which they believed allowed them to perceive
hidden dimensions of reality beyond the reach of ordinary perception. The book
remains significant in the history of Theosophy and esoteric spirituality.”