The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy was published by the Philosophical Research Society in 1928, and it remains one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of esoteric publishing. Hall was twenty-seven years old when it appeared — a self-educated prodigy who had been lecturing on comparative religion and occultism since his teens in Los Angeles.
The book is physically imposing: the original edition was an oversized folio (approximately 13 x 19 inches), printed on heavy paper stock, with fifty-four full-page color plates and over two hundred illustrations. It was published by subscription at $100 per copy (equivalent to roughly $1,800 today), and the initial print run was limited. Hall raised the money through lectures and the support of wealthy patrons, including the industrialist Caroline Lloyd.
The content synthesizes virtually the entire Western esoteric tradition: chapters cover the ancient Mystery Schools (Eleusinian, Mithraic, Orphic), Pythagorean mathematics, Platonic philosophy, Hermeticism, Qabalah, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, Freemasonry, Tarot, astrology, ceremonial magic, the symbolism of world religions, and the hidden meanings embedded in art, architecture, and literature. Hall’s method is syncretistic: he argues that beneath the diversity of esoteric traditions lies a single “Secret Doctrine” — a perennial philosophy transmitted through initiatory lineages from antiquity to the present.
The book’s extraordinary breadth makes it impossible to master any single tradition from its pages alone — but as an orientation to the field of Western esotericism, it remains unmatched nearly a century later.
Collecting The Secret Teachings of All Ages
First edition (Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles, 1928): Oversized folio, multiple bindings.
Market values:
- First edition, subscriber’s copy (full leather): $3,000–$10,000
- First edition, standard binding: $1,500–$4,000
- Second edition (1929): $500–$1,500
- Diamond Jubilee edition (1988): $200–$600
- Modern reduced-size editions: $30–$80