…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 (‘God Passes By’)
