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Special Portuguese Spanish    

Year 5 - N° 242 - January 8, 2012

ENRIQUE ELISEO BALDOVINO
henriquedefoz@uol.com.br
Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná (Brasil)

Translation
Pedro Campos - pedro@aliseditora.com.br

 

The Found Link

Allan Kardec registered the above on the cover of the Book of Mediums [...] it contains the special teaching of the Spirits about the theory of all kinds of manifestations [...] comprising the following Book of Spirits.» (1)

Enrique Eliseo Baldovino

In the year 2011 we had the honor to pay homage to the Sesquicentennial of The Book of Mediums, meaning the 150th anniversary of the launching of this monumental book -   one of the basic works of the Kardecian Pentateuch - , volume launched on Tuesday,  15th of January of 1861, in Paris, by Didier and Company, publishers (35, Quai des Augustins), and by Ledoyen, bookseller (Galerie d’Orleans, 31 in Palais-Royal).

Excerpt from the Book of Mediums

For many years the words of the renowned Decoder, featured on the cover of Le Livre des Médiuns have called our attention and serve as the epigraph of our article, whose original in French we cite in unabridged form as follows:

«Le Livre des Médiums ou Guide des Médiums et des Évocateurs, contenant l’enseignement spécial des Esprits sur la théorie de tous les genres de manifestations, les moyens de communiquer avec le monde invisible, le développement de la médiumnité, les difficultés et les écueils que l’on peut rencontrer dans la pratique du Spiritisme, POUR FAIRE SUITE au Livre des Esprits, par Allan Kardec». (Destaques nossos.) (2)

The translation is the following:

«The Book of Mediums or Guide of Mediums and Evokers, contains the special teachings of the Spirits surrounding the theory of all kinds of manifestations, the means of communicating with the invisible world, the development of mediumship, the obstacles and choices found in the practice of Spiritualism, CONSTITUTING THE SEGMENT of the Book of Spirits, by Allan Kardec» (Our highlights.) (1) 

The French expression pour faire suite a means: to constitute the segment of, to give sequence to, to be the continuation of (3) etc. The master of Lyon was very precise in his words, and every time we read and study his codified works we are overwhelmed, not only by the sublime scientific, philosophical and religious content of the Spiritualistic Doctrine, but also by the elevated form of language sported by the superior Spirits and by the Decoder himself, in his bright comments and his unique didactics.

1st rare issue of What is Spiritualism

In this rare French edition (93 pages in the original) of the work Qu’est-ce que le Spiritisme, published by Kardec in July 1859, in Paris (Ledoyen, bookseller, and bureau of Revue Spirite, Imprimerie of Mr. Beau, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye), a book that is found on the Internet today (4), we find a REVEALING INFORMATION in the final pages, used by the editor, by imprimerie and by typographie (today’s printing shops), in the manner of a catalogue, where the following issues are advertised.

Between pages 97 and 100 of the referred 1st edition of What is Spiritualism, we find a summary or General Index of Le Livre des Esprits, with its respective Books or Parts, followed by its unabridged chapters. When reaching page 100, and after reading the precious themes of LIVRE PREMIER – Las Causes Premières (FIRST BOOK – Of Primary Causes), of LIVRE DEUXIÈME - Monde spirite ou des Esprits (SECOND BOOK – Of the spiritual world or world of Spirits), of LIVRE TROISIÈME - Lois Morales (THIRD BOOK – Of moral laws) and of the LIVRE QUATRIÈME - Espérances et consolations (FOURTH BOOK – Of hopes and consolations), we read the following with attention and great emotion: 

LIVRE CINQUIÈME - Manifestation des Esprits (FIFTH BOOK – Manifestation of Spirits). (4)

We are really admired to find that the Decoder had the intention to add another Book or Part to the new edition of the Le Livre des Esprits, with the intention to develop themes related to medium manifestations and mediums, thus giving SEQUENCE to the universe of themes introduced by Spiritualism. But afterwards, by guidance of Spirits or by other reasons, he opted to do this SEGMENT in a new specific work, The Book of Mediums, having mediumship as the object of study. 

A Rare and historic facsimile

We present next the rare and historic facsimile of the afore mentioned LIVRE CINQUIÉME (Page 100, in the final advertising papers of the 1st issue of Qu’est-ce que le Spiritisme), together with our translation from French to Portuguese, of the 8 chapters of the unpublished FIFTH BOOK, that was supposed to be attached to the Le Livre des Esprits (which ended up not happening), where you can notice interesting themes about mediums, and of great up-to-date doctrinarian news.

We point out that, up to the referred time (July, 1859), only one issue had been published of the Bright Book: the first and historical edition of the Le Livre des Esprits, on Saturday, 18th of April 1857, with 501 questions and 3 PARTS or BOOKS (Paris, E. Dentu bookseller, Palais-Royal, Galerie d’Orleans, 13 Imprimerie of Mr. Beau, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye), of which chapter X of the 1st Part was also called Manifestation des Esprits (questions 200 to 276 of the 1st issue).

In the context of the appearance of this rare facsimile, we are between the months of July, 1859 and March, 1860, being the latter the publication of the 2nd and definite issue of the Book of Spirits, entirely refurbished and considerably augmented, as we know today, containing the 1019 questions and the 4 BOOKS or PARTS (Paris, Didier et Cie, et Ledoyen - Imprimerie de P.-A. Bourdier et Cie, rue Mazarine, 30). 

Disclaimer about this new issue

It is Allan Kardec himself who explains the new distribution of subjects in the reprint of The Book of Spirits, only in its methodic form and not according to the principles of the Doctrine, which did not suffer any amendments, as he records in this precious Warning (5), guided by the Spirits of Codification:

« [...] We prefer to wait for the the reprinting of the book to merge it all together, distributing the subjects in a more methodical manner and suppressing the repeated ones. This reprint may be considered a new piece of work, although the principles have not been altered; only a few points that are more complements and clarifications than proper modifications. [...]».

And in the final paragraph of the afore mentioned Warning, the Decoder reveals the next and historical launching of the praised work – The Book of Mediums -, explaining why this work constitutes the SEGMENT to The Book of Spirits: 

«[...] The teachings related to the manifestations and the mediums constitute, in a way, a distinct part of the philosophy, being a special object of study in itself. Having this part being developed, due to the acquired experience, we thought it’d be good to make it into A DISTINCT VOLUME, which contains all the answers given to all questions related to manifestations and mediums, as well as countless comments on practical Spiritualism. This work will be the CONTINUATION or the COMPLEMENT to The Book of Spirits». (Highlighted in bold face and italics in the original.) (6)

When closing this Avis sur cette nouvelle édition,, in the second edition of Le Livre des Esprits, the Decoder presents the following valuable footnote: «In press», referring to the future publication of The Book of Mediums (15/01/1861). (7)

Precious and rare Note from Allan Kardec in Prolegomena

In another precious note from Allan Kardec, now in Prolegomena (8), the Decoder hereby expresses himself about the mentioned 2nd edition of The Book of Spirits:

«[...] The material was organized in order to present a regular and methodical collection, and was not advertised before a throughout revision, many time over, and corrected by the Spirits. This second edition also deserved a new and throughout examination by the Spirits. [...]».

All the 11 chapters of the Second Part (“Of the spiritual world or world of Spirits”) of the 2nd definite edition of The Book of Spirits, will be unfolded and enhanced greatly in The Book of Mediums, with astonishing beauty. Today we know, from studies of these subjects, that Le Livre des Médiums had its doctrinarian origin in this 2nd part of Le Livre des Esprits. The brethren Vital Cruvinel, on his site,(9) refers to that issue of The Book of Spirits, that has not yet been published and where a 5th part is featured (Livre Cinquième), as the “lost issue”.

We prefer to call it “the Found Link”, for it constitutes the segment, the natural sequence, the continuation of the logic of thought of Kardec, guided by the Superior Spirits of Codification, in order to unfold those referred 8 chapters in nothing less than 36 new chapters (of the 1st and 2nd Parts of The Book of Mediums), with 350 items and over 500 pages of the original in French,  a Masterpiece that we now pay homage to, (10) thanking God, Jesus and Kardec for the blessings contained in these immortal pages, that even 150 years later continue to light the script and path of mediums in their relarionship with the incarnated and the Invisible World.  

 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES:

(1) KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Mediums. Transl. Evandro Noleto Bezerra. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2008. Front cover.

(2) KARDEC, Allan. Le Livre des Médiums. 1ère édition. Brasília: EDICEI, 2008. Front cover.

(3) PELAYO, Ramón García-, TESTAS, Jean. Dictionnaire Français-Espagnol-Español-Francés. Collection Saturne, 976 pp. 2ème édition. Paris: LAROUSSE, 1989. Page 705, headword: suite.

(4) KARDEC, Allan. Qu’est-ce que le Spiritisme. 1ère édition. Paris: Ledoyen, 1859. Available at: <http://books.google.com.br/

(5) KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits. Transl. Evandro Bezerra. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2010. Warning about this new edition, pp. 21-22.

(6) –––––––. ––––––––. With the footnotes from Kardec and the translator, p. 22.

(7) THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. The Found Link. Commemorative article by Enrique Eliseo Baldovino. June of 2011, nº 1523, year 80, pp. 23-25. Curitiba/PR: FEP, 2011.

(8) KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits. Transl. E. Bezerra. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2010. Prolegomena, pp. 72-73, with translator’s notes, p. 72.

(9) Available at: <http://decodificando-livro-espiritos.blogspot.com/2010/11/edicao-perdida-parte-1.html>.

(10) SPIRITUAL PRESENCE. The Found Link. Commemorative article by Enrique E. Baldovino. July/August 2011, year XXXVII, nº 285, pp. 46-51. Salvador/BA: LEAL, 2011.                    


 


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