We notice a similar development in the extent of its
literature—a literature which, restricted at first to the narrow range of
hurriedly transcribed, often corrupted, secretly circulated, manuscripts, so
furtively perused, so frequently effaced, and at times even eaten by the
terrorized members of a proscribed sect, has, within the space of a century,
swelled into innumerable editions, comprising tens of thousands of printed
volumes, in diverse scripts, and in no less than forty languages, some
elaborately reproduced, others profusely illustrated, all methodically and
vigorously disseminated through the agency of world-wide, properly constituted
and specially organized committees and Assemblies.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘Preface to
God Passes By’)