About the
Bookstore
Currently
the Bookstore features two books, each of which is a scrupulously accurate,
thoroughly proofed, exhaustively documented edition of one of the original
scribal versions.
These
are the authentic, genuine, “Original Editions” or “versions” of A Course in
Miracles. These are the Urtext Manuscripts and the HLC Manuscript.
We are working on bringing you the most original of them all, the Shorthand Notes Manuscripts. Most of the HLC proofing and “correction” was completed in early 2006. The seven
volumes of the Urtext were completed
in 2009. The work began in late 1999
when I received a photocopy, on paper, of the Hugh Lynn Cayce manuscript.
The two books represent nearly ten years of work, involving tens of
thousands of hours of proofreading, checking and double checking thousands of
footnotes, writing exhaustive and extensive documentation, and the result is
worth every minute of effort. I would
never claim perfection for the work of a human, but they are far and away the
best of the best and I have no hesitation in saying that. I know what these are, and I know what went
into them, they are worthy of their Author and I am pleased to present them to
the Sonship. Yes, in coming years we
will do even better, but this is a very gratifying “giant step” toward the
ultimate goal of a fully restored copy of the “Original Dictation.”
The
“Bookstore” is not how we make our living.
There are quite a few people involved in publishing editions of ACIM and
I’m only aware of two who GIVE AWAY everything.
That would be us and Teddy Poppe and the “Thetford Foundation” in
Australia. They actually give away
printed books (Blue Sparkly). I’d like
to do that too but haven’t found a way to pay the printers. I can, however, at very very modest cost,
give away e-books, and that includes e-books of “competitor’s” editions they
insist you pay for.
Your
book purchases and donations put food on the table and pay the rent for the
people who put this material together and make it available, for free in
on-line versions. But only rarely has it
been the case that revenues from donations and book sales have not had to be supplemented
with commercial employment.
Back
in 2006 I set out to “self-publish” the Corrected
HLC and that was not a very good experience. Between having no aptitude for business and
preferring to spend my time on scholarship, not to mention precisely ZERO
budget for advertising, being a publisher was a stressful distraction which
cost me more money than I generated in sales revenue. Every book order was an expense.
I
prayed for help in publishing and Doug Monkton and his Miracles in Action Press
showed up and bingo, things started to roll.
Doug
Monkton takes care of publishing details, printing and shipping books and most
of the advertising and Doug Thompson (me) takes care of making sure that what’s
between the covers of the books is worthy of its Source and Author, Jesus of
Nazareth and the very best and most accurate and most honest that can be
produced. That doesn’t mean it’s
perfect, that means it’s the best we can do.
And anything less than that won’t go out the door, never mind be put
between the covers of a book.
Donations
this year reached a level such that I have been able to work for several months
full time on this project. That’s a
first. The previous ten years I had to
maintain at least part time employment to pay the rent and pay the necessary
expenses of doing this job.
That
also doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done with a lot of help, both human and
divine, in the quest to make it always better, always more accurate, always
more reliable, tracing down every misplaced comma so that we can say truthfully “this is the best.”