Strange Notes In Ouspensky Book

[drbastard]

Not sure if this belongs in here or esoterica but I thought that someone might be able to enlighten me about something. I own a 1957 Routledge & Kegan Paul copy of PD Ouspensky’s Tertium Organum that I bought it in about 1997 in a charity shop in Sheffield.

It is littered with red biro notes-the owner obviously studied it thoroughly. Many of the notes seem to be comments or criticisms of the text. To my regret I have never got round to reading it and know little of philosophy, but the notes don’t seem to make much sense. The previous owner has signed his name in the first page- Henry (James?). The writing is pretty illegible for the most part and I have in the past spent time trying to decipher it but it seems mysterious to me.

Anyway, what I am most baffled about is that it is periodically littered with what is obviously a date/time and some other numbers and letters written in the margin. For example:

19=1951W Saturday 2nd February 1963.00.

6.8.61 20.48 (W) 21.03 (MRC)

6.11.62 13…13w at MRC!

17.4.63 23.5Sw DBRC/OR Wed. after Rostain mtg at yil FR Tonkin Sidney Austi


The above transcription may not be 100% correct because the writing is pretty hard to read. But that last bit seems like complete gobbledygook. Sometimes the writing looks a bit ‘forced’ and different in style from the normally flowing italic style elsewhere.

Does anyone have any idea what this might be about? I’m not saying it’s anything thrilling but if anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

MRC looked to be Medical Research Coucil but the collocation with reference to Tonkin suggests it was the Military Revolutionary Council of Vietnam. The Tonkin Resolution was 1964 so the dates seem early.

Notes for a history paper? May not be related to the occult subject of the book.

. . . on the other hand, if Tonkin is not a reference to the Vietnam war episode, MRC could well be medical and then DBRC could be Director Board of Research or Design Based Research Collective? Someone's job-search notes?

Yet those oddly precise times suggest something astrological. Maybe casting the runes for a job or some historical event?

 

[dreeness]

It could even be someone's personal notes, maybe trying to pin down the date of a specific event in their lives, or something. Cryptic because they know what the acronyms mean to them, and also they wouldn't want anyone else knowing. MRC might stand for something like "Mary's rented cottage" for all we know.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Ouspensky / Ouspenskii was involved with Gurdjieff, to the point one rarely finds a devotee of either who isn't interested in, or arrived by way of, the other.

Gurdjieff's practices and teachings often invoked exercises, activities, and themes relating to the theatre.

Michel Rostain, author of ‘Journal des répétitions de La Tragédie de Carmen’, is cited as a reference in multiple writings or news items from Gurdjieff's circles.

I suspect the "Rostain mtg" annotation refers to a meeting with or involving Rostain, made by a person interested in Gurdjieff / Ouspensky or perhaps an active member of one of their circles / networks.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

About 10 years ago I borrowed a copy of Brad Steiger's Worlds Before Our Own on inter-library loan, I forget which library authority it came from. It was covered in underlinings - often doubled, and copious notes in pen, often several per page and taking up much of the margins. The person writing these was batshit insane (go figure) and a creationist (likewise). I ended up reading all of their notes along with the book, it was quite fun in a way and I felt like I had a reading "companion" accompanying me. That said, I don't hold with defacing library books, though people can whatever they like with their own copies.

 

[henry]

i always attribute this kind of behaviour to paul auster, or one of his escaped characters

 

[AlchoPwn]

The thing about TLAs is that there can be an awful lot of them with the same TLs.

Monthly Recurring Charge, Memory Re-Call (calculator), Media Research Center, Medical Reserve Corps (US Citizen Corps), Medical Research Council (UK), Mekong River Commission,
Mobile (Radio) Router and Control, Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission,
Master Requirement Code (US federal cataloging process), Merchant Risk Council, Multicultural Resource Center, Media Rating Council, Model Rectifier Corporation, Medicare Rights Center, Mixed Raster Content, Medical Research Council of Canada, Mount Royal College, Methodist Rehabilitation Center (for very naugthy Methodists), Maximal-Ratio Combining, Monnaie Royale Canadienne (Royal Canadian Mint), Medical Research Council of South Africa, Medical Research Charities (formerly Medical Research Agencies of America),
Marine Resources Committee (Friday Harbor, WA), McJunkin Red Man Corporation (various locations), Major Regional Conflict, Mississippi River Commission, Multi-Racing Championship (video game), Mid-Roll Change (film/camera), Mission Research Corporation, Mechanical Repair Coverage, Maintenance Requirement Card, Major Regional Contingency, Monthly Recurring Cost, Meat Research Corporation, Marine Resources Council (Palm Bay, FL),
Multinationals Resource Center (Washington, DC), Mountain Rescue Committee (United Kingdom), Minority Resource Center, Mathematics Research Center, Magneto-Resistive Cluster (tape recorder heads), Marine Resources Center, Multiple Reporting Currencies (Oracle, finance), McLaughlin Research Corporation, Modeling and Reasoning in Context (workshop), Machine-Readable Code, Minimum Resolvable Contrast, Maryland Recyclers Coalition, Municipalité Regional de Comté (Québec), mIRC Script File (file extension),
Magnetic Recording Channel, Midway Research Center, Memory Reference Code, Mixed Radix Conversion, Markless Register Control (Q.I. Press Controls), Modular Radio Cabinet,Motorized Rifle Company, Media Resource Control (Sprint), Maintenance Repair Code, Monland Restoration Council (Fort Wayne, IN), Modular Remote Cabinet, Multiple Routing Configuration (computer networking), Materiel Release Confirmation, Materiel Readiness Command, Movement Report Center, Moisture Retention Curve (hydrology), Chief Machinery Repairman (Naval Rating), Message-based Reliable Channel, Medical Response Center, Mixed Raster Coding, Manufacturing Resource Centre (UK), Military Review Committee,
Medical Readiness Committee, Manpower Requirements Change, Meteorological Research Committee (Air Ministry, Great Britain), Master Reference Code, Message Routing Component, Magnetic Recording Conference, Maintenance Repair Card, Madagascar Rally Championship (automobile racing), Mercury Record Corporation, Mestrec Document (file extension), Master Record Correction, Material Receipt Card, Militarized Reconfigurable Computer, Mobile Radio Component (US military mobile radio systems), McKean Rehabilitation Center (Thailand), Malfunction Reporting and Control, Methodology Research Core, Marine Revitalization Corporation, Multi-Level Reverse Carry, Mental Retardation Counsellor (Canada), Matteo Ricci College (Seattle University; Seattle, WA), Multidisciplinary Research Centre (University of Namibia), Mount Rock Capital (various locations), Monolithic Reinforced Concrete, Mines Resort City (Malaysia), Magnetic Resonance Center (various locations), Munich Reinsurance Company (Munich, Germany).