International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals
Periodical:Estudios Teosoficos (Barcelona)
Estudios Teosoficos (Barcelona): cover of an issue
Summary:
Summary by:
Pat Deveney
Title:
Estudios Teosoficos.
Subtitle:
Satyat Nasti Paro Dharman—No Hay Religion Mas Elevada Que La Verdad
Published:
1891-1892
Frequency:
Semimonthly, then monthly
Location:
Barcelona, Spain.
Language:
Spanish.
Editor(s):
Francisco Montoliu y Francisco Montoliu y Togores, J. Roviralta Borrell.
Succession:
Succeeded by: Sophia
Description:

1/1, February 1891-3/3, December 1892. 16 pp. (32 pp. beginning with monthly publication in January 1892).

This was the first Theosophical journal in Spain. It was started by Montoliu, an intense young man who first heard of Theosophy upon finding a copy of Revue Theosophique, wrote to H.P. Blavatsky in London, learned English in three months to allow him to read her works, and almost immediately translated Isis Unveiled into Spanish. He and Jose Xifre were the first to join, through the Hermes branch in Paris, and soon were gathering together small groups in Madrid to study Theosophy. Montoliu moved to Barcelona and started this journal in 1891, supplying a large part of the content by translations or articles under the name "Nemo," explaining the purposes and goals of the Theosophical Society. The journal also notably carried a chapter of Bulwer Lytton's "Una Extrana Historia," Bournouf's "El Buddhismo en Occidento," a series on Ocultismo Practico," and J. Campbell Ver Planck's "Catecismo Teosefico para Ninos," and reported on Theosophical events worldwide. It followed carefully the debate then taking place in the French occult journals and in Lucifer over the relative roles of Buddhism and Christianity in Theosophy. The journal had contributions by and excerpts from W.R. Old, Alexander Fullerton, Franz Hartmann, G.R.S. Mead, Florencio Pol, Rene Caillie, J. Roviralta Borrell, et al. The Theosophist in 1892 notes that the journal had a monthly circulation of 400, but its influence was far greater since the local branch printed up 3,700 copies of back issues to send to South America and the rest of Spain. Montoliu died on May 10, 1892, in the midst of the furor over the peculation, fraud, arrest, jailing, and expulsion of one of the Barcelona branch's members—the Count of Das—who came close to capsizing the society. He later traveled the world as Alberto de Sarak, Count of Das, starting Theosophical branches and occult societies and journals and leaving in his wake what has been knowledgeably described as hundreds of victims. The story appears in this journal in 1892. On Sarak, see the note under The Radiant Centre. The Theosophical cause in Spain was taken up the next year in Sophia, published in Madrid by Xifre, which claimed proudly that it had been founded by Montoliu.

Vincente More has created a chronological list of many of the important Spanish Theosophical journals that will aid in studying Theosophy in Spain as a whole:

Estudios Theosoficos, Barcelona, 1891-1892

Sophia, Madrid, 1893-1914

Antahkarana, Barcelona, 1894-1896

Loto Blanco, Barcelona, 1917-1932

Hesperia, Madrid, 1921-1925

Zanoni, Seville, 1921-1925

Sophia, Madrid, 1924-1926

Fiat Lux, Valencia, 1927-1928

Sophia, Barcelona, 1931-1932

Teosofia, Barcelona, 1932-1936

Sophia, Barcelona, 1936

Vincente Penalva More, El Orientalismo en la Cultura Espanola en el Primer Tercio del s. XX: La Sociedad Teosofica Expanola(1888-1940), doctoral disseration, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, 2013.

In addition, the following (q.v.) should be noted:

El Heraldo, 1885 (possibly Theosophical)

Biblioteca Teoseofia de las Maravillas, Madrid 1900s

Heraldo de la Estrella, Barcelona, c1914

Cadena de Oro, Madrid, 1920

Boletin de la Sociedad Teosofica de Espana, Madrid, c1921-1929

Boletin Trimestral de la Sociedad Teosofica de Espana, Barcelona, 1922

Revista Teosofica, Seville, 1922

Aurora, Madrid, 1925-1927

Boletin Internacional de la Estrella, Madrid, 1928-1933

Madrid, 1932-1935

Hoja Mensual de la Rama Bilbao, c1933

Archivo General de la Guerra Civil Espanola.

Other Sources:None known
Issues:Estudios Teosoficos V1 N1 Feb 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N2 Feb 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N3 Mar 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N4 Mar 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N5 Apr 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N6 Apr 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N7 May 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N8 May 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N9 Jun 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N10 Jun 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N11 Jul 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N12 Jul 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N13 Aug 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N14 Aug 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N15 Sep 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V1 N16 Sep 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N1 Oct 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N2 Nov 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N3 Nov 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N4 Dec 7 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N5 Dec 21 1891
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N6 Jan 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N7 Feb 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N8 Mar 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N9 Apr 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N10 May 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N11 Jun 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N12 Jul 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N13 Aug 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V2 N14 Sep 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V3 N1 Oct 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V3 N2 Nov 1892
Estudios Teosoficos V3 N3 Dec 1892