Verse Numberings in Ch. I of AL
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Does anyone know when the chapter numbers were added to chapter I of The Book of the Law?
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@Red Eagle of Death said
"Does anyone know when the chapter numbers were added to chapter I of The Book of the Law?"
None of the three chapters had verse numbers at the time of the dictatin. Crowley added them at... some later date. (It was before 1908 when the privately published version was being prepared for print.)
That would be an interesting project: Who can find the earliest Crowley writing that references a verse by number in Liber L.?
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@Jim Eshelman said
"That would be an interesting project: Who can find the earliest Crowley writing that references a verse by number in Liber L.?"
You mean, explicitly, not implicitly in the nature of the verses themselves, right? <vbg>
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Yes, explicit verse number references.
For example, after posting the above I had a few minutes to flip through Konx Om Pax to confirm that there is no place there would be such a reference.
How about footnotes or side remarks in The Collected Works? These were published in three volumes, from 1905 onward. Is there any verse reference anywhere in there? This could be one of the best sources of documentation.
Or how about diaries? Most of Crowley's 1906 and 1907 (and late 1905) diaries have been published. Is there any reference to verse numbers there? Or in John St. John (October 1908)? Etc.
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Well, I can set a baseline from the other side.
Liber NV, in Equinox I-7 (1912) has explicit references to verse numbers.
Equinox I-3 references "Liber CCXX" (1910) but I couldn't find verse numbers referenced.
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@AvshalomBinyamin said
"Well, I can set a baseline from the other side.
Liber NV, in Equinox I-7 (1912) has explicit references to verse numbers.
Equinox I-3 references "Liber CCXX" (1910) but I couldn't find verse numbers referenced."
I already set a baseline from the other side
The original publication of Liber Legis for A.'.A.'. Zelatores was in 1909. -
oops!
I couldn't find anything in John St. John.
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From In the Continuum V:1
"State I. The original holograph. This has
had many changes from the initial state of the
April 8-10, 1904 original in the writing of the
Beast. These are a study unto themselves.
The typescript made before leaving Cairo
in 1904 suggest that verse numbers, additions
of translations of verses from the Stele, and a
number of clarifications presumably in
Ouarda's handwriting probably were made
almost immediately. This typescript was not
checked carefully, as can be seen in [Thelema]
(1909) derived from it"If I understand correctly, this is asserting that Crowley made a typescript version of Liber CCXX in 1904 (within the two-week window of his stay in Cairo, after receiving the dictation), that has verse numbers.
Similarly, the 1998 edition of Book 4 has a similar assertion in the Editor's introduction
"While still in Cairo, Crowley prepared a typescript and two carbons of The Book of the Law from the MS."
The source of this assertion seems to be from the Confessions of Aleister Crowley
"I had the manuscript typed."
But I couldn't find any explicit reference to verse numbering in the diary snippets in the Temple of Solomon the King, other than references to him working on the comment to the law in May of 1906. One would assume that a verse-by-verse comment would be greatly assisted by the presence of verse numbers!
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I think you've solved the mystery!
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I think you've solved the mystery!"
you are beautiful.
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a brief timeline of action with regard to this document follows (many years missing, preliminary schematic for others with interest to assist with or for me to fill in later):
- 4/1904: the original ms. (Liber L vel Legis, XXXI) was written. possibly around the time of the writing certain anomalous features were amended to what is called 'the reception', including the insertion of 'Had!' prior to the first chapter, and the line regarding Crowley's commentary, and possibly a correction or emphasis on the Tzaddi. sometime soon after these writings (or during the same aftermath period of reflection/refinement) Sr. Ouarda added her writing to the work.
4/1904-6/1904: the verses to chs. II and III are numbered and a typescript (Liber Al vel Legis, CCXX) was created (by Wilkinson?).
6/1904: the first ('Old') Comment(ary) was written.
1909: the first publishing of CCXX and commentary.
????: the second ('New') Comment(ary) was written.
????: Tunis "(The) Comment" is written.
????: first publishing of composite (3) Commentaries, XXXI, and CCXX.
????: Grant/Symonds published commentaries with their notes.
????: Motta published commentaries with his notes.
????: Regardie published commentaries with his notes.
????: Heidrick placed CCXX online with his notes.
????: Hymenaeus Beta published commentaries with his and Wilkinson's notes.
remaining curiosity: why wasn't Liber L's chapter I also given verse numbers?
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@nigris said
"4/1904-6/1904: the verses to chs. II and III are numbered and a typescript (Liber Al vel Legis, CCXX) was created (by Wilkinson?)."
This was done before he left Cairo. This means it was within a very few days (maybe 2-3 days) of the dictation.