[In July of 1892 a book was published under this title which included five stories written by H. P. Blavatsky (scanned original). This was later reprinted various times, often with minor modifications, see e.g. the 1907 Point Loma edition. It was also expanded in some future editions to include more stories, see e.g. the edition published by Theosophical University Press. Four of the five stories included in the 1892 book had been previously published, sometimes with multiple revised editions. We have published the earlier and later revised editions of these stories and tabulated them below.]
Foreword to the 1892 Edition
The world knows H. P. Blavatsky chiefly by her encyclopædic knowledge, her occult powers, her unique courage. This little book, composed of stories thrown off by her in her lighter moments, shows her as a vivid, graphic writer, gifted with brilliant imagination. The student will catch glimpses of reality under the garb of fancy, and will know that only the hand of an Occultist could have added some of the touches to the pictures.
The Nightmare Tales were rewritten during the last few months of the author’s pain-stricken life; when tired with the drudgery of The Theosophical Glossary she, who could not be idle, turned to this lighter work and found therein amusement and relaxation. Her friends, all the world over, will welcome this example of gifts used but too rarely amid the strain of weightier work.
Annie Besant
Publication History of the Stories
The five stories collected in Nightmare Tales (1892) had varied publication histories. Some had first appeared many years earlier and were subsequently revised or substantially enlarged by H. P. Blavatsky; others circulated in translation or under different titles. One story, From the Polar Lands, appears to have been published in English for the first time in Nightmare Tales and was based upon an earlier Russian story by Blavatsky’s sister, Vera P. Zhelikhovsky.
The following chronology records the principal versions known to have appeared up to the publication of Nightmare Tales in 1892.
Story #1: A Bewitched Life
1885 — A Bewitched Life (As narrated by a Quill-Pen)
Source: The Theosophist, Vol. VI, August–September, 1885.
This is the first printing and is a considerably shorter form of the story than the version ultimately included in Nightmare Tales.
1891 — Заколдованная жизнь (Со слов Гусиного Пера)
Source: Rebus (Ребус), St. Petersburg, Nos. 24–29, June 16–July 21, 1891.
A Russian version appeared shortly after Blavatsky’s death under the title Zakoldovannaya zhizn’ (So slov Gusinogo Pera)—“A Bewitched Life (As Told by a Quill-Pen).” It was published as a tale by “Radda-Bai,” one of Blavatsky’s literary pseudonyms.
This Russian text constitutes a distinct stage in the history of the story and should not simply be regarded as a translation of the later Nightmare Tales text.
1891–1892 — A Bewitched Life (As Narrated by a Quill Pen)
Source: Lucifer, Vol. IX, December 1891–February, 1892.
The editors of Lucifer explained that before her death Blavatsky had collected several of her stories for republication, had “thoroughly revised them,” and had added new material. She intended the resulting collection to appear under the title Nightmare Tales.
The Lucifer version of A Bewitched Life is therefore not merely a reprint of the 1885 story, but Blavatsky’s substantially revised and enlarged form of it and the immediate precursor of the version published in the book.
1892 — A Bewitched Life (As Narrated by a Quill Pen)
Source: Nightmare Tales, July 1892
The final collected version appeared as the first story in Nightmare Tales.
Story #2: The Cave of the Echoes
The publication history of this story is somewhat unusual because an early typeset version survives from approximately 1876, although there is no evidence that it was actually published.
1876 — The Cave of the Echoes
Source: Unpublished typeset version, apparently prepared for the New York Sun.
Blavatsky preserved typeset portions of the story in her scrapbook. Beside them she wrote that it was her “3rd story” and had been: “Killed on account of being too horrible.”
No issue of the Sun containing The Cave of the Echoes has yet been identified. This should therefore be regarded as an unpublished early typeset state, rather than as the first published edition.
1878 — The Cave of the Echoes. An Appalling Tale of Retributive Justice Inflicted by an Earthbound “Spirit.”
Source: Banner of Light, Boston, Vol. XLIII, March 30, 1878, p. 2.
This is the earliest presently verified published edition of the story.
1883 — The Cave of the Echoes: A Strange But a True Story
Source: The Theosophist, Vol. IV, April, 1883, pp. 164–166.
Five years after the Banner of Light publication, the story appeared again in The Theosophist, now carrying the subtitle: “A Strange But a True Story.”
This represents a later recension of the tale.
1886 — Пещера Озерков
Source: Rebus (Ребус), St. Petersburg, Nos. 1–3, January 5-19, 1886.
A Russian version appeared in three installments under the title Peshchera Ozerkov (lit. Cave of Ozerki, or Cave of the Small Lakes), with the subtitle “A Strange but True Story,” and was signed “Radda-Bai.”
The Russian text is of particular interest because it differs in places from the English versions: some passages are fuller, while other material found in the English text is omitted. It has generally been regarded as Blavatsky’s own Russian recension of the story.
1892 — The Cave of the Echoes: A Strange but True Story
Source: Nightmare Tales, July 1892
The story was again revised for inclusion in Blavatsky’s projected collection. It appeared as the second story in Nightmare Tales.
Story #3: The Luminous Circle/Shield
This story’s title was altered when printed in Nightmare Tales (1892), but was originally titled “The Luminous Circle.”
1876 — The Luminous Circle
Source: The New York Sun, Vol. XLIII, No. 111, January 2, 1876.
The original newspaper version appeared under the title The Luminous Circle and was signed: “Hadji Mora”. It was accompanied by the descriptive headings:
Wonderful Powers of the Divining Girl of Damascus.
A Theosophical Tale Told by an Old Traveller in the Far East.—A Magic Moon.—What was Seen therein.—The Dervishes of Constantinople.—A Dwarf’s Transformation.
Blavatsky identified this in her scrapbook as her “2nd story.”
1892 — The Luminous Circle
Source: The Theosophist, Vol. XIII, August, 1892.
The old story was reprinted in The Theosophist concurrent with the publication of Nightmare Tales. An editorial footnote noted that the story was included in Blavatsky’s “forth-coming collection of stories entitled ‘Nightmare Tales.’”
The story still bore its original title, The Luminous Circle.
1892 — The Luminous Shield
Source: Nightmare Tales, July 1892
For the collected edition the story appeared under the new title “The Luminous Shield” and in a revised form. It appeared as the third story in Nightmare Tales.
Story #4: From the Polar Lands
Unlike the other stories in Nightmare Tales, no earlier publication of Blavatsky’s English text has yet been identified.
Its source, however, can be traced to a Russian story written by Blavatsky’s younger sister, Vera Petrovna Zhelikhovsky.
1889 — Из стран полярных (Святочное происшествие)
Source: Novosti i Birzhevaya Gazeta (Новости и биржевая газета), Nos. 355 and 357, December 25 & 29, 1889.
Author: Vera P. Zhelikhovsky
The Russian title may be translated as:
“From the Polar Lands. A Christmas-tide Incident.”
Zhelikhovsky’s story appeared in two installments in December 1889.
Blavatsky subsequently began an English translation or adaptation of her sister’s story. The surviving English work appears to have remained unfinished at the time of Blavatsky’s death in May 1891.
1892 — From the Polar Lands (A Christmas Story)
Source: Nightmare Tales, July 1892
The incomplete English translation/adaptation was published posthumously in Nightmare Tales. A contemporary reviewer in The Path likewise observed that the tale appeared to be unfinished.
It is therefore best described not as an entirely original Blavatsky story, but as an unfinished English translation/adaptation by Blavatsky of a story by Vera Zhelikhovsky. It appeared as the fourth story in Nightmare Tales.
Story #5: The Ensouled Violin
1880 — The Ensouled Violin
Source: The Theosophist, Vol. I, No. 4, January, 1880, pp. 95–97.
The first version of the story appeared in The Theosophist in January 1880. It was signed “Hillarion Smerdis, F.T.S.” and dated October 1st, 1879 from Cyprus. It is substantially shorter than the later editions of the story.
1892 — The Ensouled Violin
Source: Lucifer, Vol. X, March-April, 1892.
Blavatsky thoroughly rewrote and greatly expanded the original story for her projected collection. The revised version was published posthumously in two installments, in March and April, 1892.
This long version differs so extensively from the 1880 tale that it is more accurately described as a substantial rewriting than as a simple revision or reprint.
1892 — The Ensouled Violin
Source: Nightmare Tales, July 1892
The enlarged version was included in the collected volume later that year as the fifth story.
Summary
The stories collected in Nightmare Tales represent several different stages of Blavatsky’s literary career. The Luminous Shield and The Cave of the Echoes reach back to her earliest American writings of the 1870s; The Ensouled Violin and A Bewitched Life were first published in The Theosophist and were extensively reworked during the final months of her life; while From the Polar Lands was an unfinished adaptation of a Russian story by her sister Vera Zhelikhovskaya.
The 1892 volume should therefore not be regarded simply as a collection of previously published tales. During the final months of her life Blavatsky returned to several of these early works, revising, expanding and in some instances virtually rewriting them in preparation for a projected collection which she herself had named Nightmare Tales.