Emma and the HBofL

Number 1 on the research agenda: what if any active, organizing or pollinating role did Emma play in the foundation and activities of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor?

Getting the first digital edition of The Occult Magazine for 1885/6 together today (thanks, Pat!), I came across this fortuitous juxtaposition on the back page of issue 1.

Here, in miniature, the social network we know about:

1. the Scots publisher Hay Nisbet, connected to Emma directly, and at one remove through David Duguid and others, and connected to Peter Davidson (having published Davidson's book on the violin) -- clearly the gateway node between Emma's network and the HBofL network
2. the editors of the Occult Magazine, canvassing for a copy of Ghost Land as they begin their new publishing ventures
3. and, most distant, the editor of Ghost Land, Emma herself.

. The fact that the editors felt the need to advertise for a copy of Ghost Land might tend to suggest that they had no direct connection with Emma, but, on the other hand, Emma claimed at several junctures prior to 1885 that she had no copies of Ghost Land left to hand out.