Lamp, The.
1894-1900 Monthly
Toronto, Canada. Language: English.
Editor: Albert E.S. Smythe; D.N. Donlop, associate editor. Succeeded by: Canadian Theosophist (also edited by A.E.S. Smythe)
1/1, August 1894-September 1900. 25 cents-$1.00/4s a year, 16-36 pp.

Hiatus from February 1897 to September 1899 on account of the absence of Smythe, the primary mover beyond the journal and of Theosophy in Canada; publication was resumed under the editorialship of Dunlop. This was the first Theosophical magazine in Canada. It was "Theosophical" but stood in strong contrast to what would be called "Neo-Theosophy" or "watered-down Theosophy." "We believe and will vote for 'The Theosophical Society,' as it was, as it is, and is to be; the Universal Brotherhood is a necessary result." Smythe had first come to learn of Theosophy in 1884 when he met W.Q. Judge onboard the ship on which he was immigrating to the United States. In 1891 he started a branch of the Theosophical Society in Toronto and then followed the Judge -> Tingley branches of Theosophy in the split of 1895. When Tingley expelled him from her society he again rejoined the Adyar Thosophists. In 1920 he began the Canadian Theosophist which, with this journal, was one of the most important and influential Theosophical journal published worldwide, principally because of Smythe’s policy of openness to competing points of view and adherence to what he saw as the original revelation of Theosophy. Though Smythe was a member of the Toronto branch of the T.S., the journal, except for the first few issues, was not the organ of the branch but aspired to an international audience, which it largely achieved. On good evidence it had a circulation of 5,000, an astonishing feat for the time.