Book II
Description and Study of the Archeometer
Death surprised the Marquis de Saint-Yves d’Alveydre unexpectedly. His considerable work was well underway but unfinished; certain parts were fully written and polished, while others were barely outlined.
A multitude of documents, a considerable quantity of photographic and typographic plates, remained to be arranged. Should the fruit of so many years of labor be lost by halting the Archeometer mid-execution? Or should the Master’s work be brought to light despite the difficulties to overcome?
This was the problem facing the Marquis de Saint-Yves’s family, and we must explain how it was resolved — in our opinion, resolved as wisely as justly.
Countess KELLER and Count Alexandre KELLER, heirs of the Marquis de Saint-Yves, entrusted a friend and pupil of the Marquis, Dr. Gérard ENCAUSSE (Papus), with the necessary arrangements for the publication of the Archeometer.
Dr. Encausse found it impossible to finalize such a vast work alone.
He thus called upon all those whom Saint-Yves had permitted to study certain aspects of his Work. The society “The Friends of Saint-Yves” was legally established as a civil society for publications and conferences, with one of the Marquis’s dearest friends, Mr. DUVIGNAU de LANNEAU, and this society assembled the collaborators tasked with finalizing and presenting the Master’s work.
Mr. LEBRETTON, Saint-Yves’s devoted secretary, undertook an initial classification of the documents and remains the living link between the deceased Master and his surviving pupils.
Mr. JEMAIN, who had been the Master’s invaluable collaborator in all matters of musical adaptation, kindly took charge of everything pertaining to this adaptation.
Mr. GOUGY, a government-licensed architect who had worked with the Master on all architectural adaptations, provided us with a lucid summary of his work and made all necessary plates available.
Our friend Dr. A. CHAUVEY of Nantes (Saïr), who had worked closely with the Master, proved invaluable in the publication of this work. He devoted several months to finalizing Sagesse vraie; to him we also owe the completion of the Sanskrit hermeneutics and numerous other equally important tasks.
Mr. BATILLIAT, a literary man of great talent, was the Marquis de Saint-Yves’s chosen collaborator for the literary portion, and all the Master’s friends hold him in deep gratitude.
Alongside this group, forming the phalanx whose members chose anonymity to merge into the general term “the Friends of Saint-Yves,” other personal friends of the Marquis retained the highest regard for him and piously preserved the cult of his memory. Foremost among these we name Count Léonce de Larmandie, then our friend Sédir, and also F. Ch. BARLET, who was one of the Master’s earliest and most ardent defenders and who wrote a remarkable pamphlet about him — though with some errors concerning the Archeometer, due to lack of definitive documents.
Like all masters, the Marquis de Saint-Yves had pupils who were first admirers but later insulted or betrayed him. The best we can do is not name them; the Master had forgotten and forgiven. His Work remains, and it suffices to put envious minds in their proper place.
The Friends of Saint-Yves strove to publish not only the Archeometer but also certain prior adaptations. We highlight chiefly the Théogonie des Patriarches, an adaptation of archeometric keys to a new translation of the first chapters of Genesis and the first chapter of Saint John’s Gospel. This deluxe edition was deposited with the publisher Dorbon-Aîné, 19 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris.
In passing, we must thank, on behalf of all the Master’s admirers, the erudite and artistic publisher Dorbon-Aîné for the devotion shown in undertaking the publication of the Archeometer.
The Friends of Saint-Yves also reissued Mystères du progrès with its three chapters on birth, the sexes and love, and death; and Mission de l’Inde, a work containing prodigious and wholly unknown revelations about India, its mysteries, and the Mahatma.
Lastly, they compiled an alphabetical index for Mission des Juifs, which had become indispensable.
All this the Friends of Saint-Yves did without seeking material gain, first in memory of the illustrious departed Master, and secondly in gratitude to his heirs, who made every effort to assist his pupils in publishing the Archeometer and its manifold adaptations.