Book Description
The teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) has come to be recognized as one of the most original, enduring, and penetrating of our century. While Gurdjieff used many different means to transmit his vision of the human dilemma and human possibility, he gave special importance to his acknowledged masterwork, Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson.

Beelzebub’s Tales is an "ocean of story" and of ideas that one can explore for a lifetime. It is majestic in scale and content, challengingly inventive in prose style, and, for those very reasons, often approached with apprehension. The first English language edition of the Russian original appeared in 1950. Since then, readers have recognized the need for a revised translation that would clarify the verbal surface while respecting the author’s own thought and style.

This revised edition, in preparation for many years under the direction of Gurdjieff’s closest pupil, Jeanne de Salzmann, meets this need. Originally published in 1992, this translation offers a new experience of Gurdjieff’s masterpiece for contemporary readers. It is presented in a sturdy cloth edition that echoes its original publication.

From the Publisher
Editors’ Note

Gurdjieff wrote Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson from 1924 through 1931, and continued in later years to make significant revisions. Before his death in 1949 he entrusted the book and his other writings to Jeanne de Salzmann, his closest pupil, with instructions for future publication. Mme. de Salzmann had followed Gurdjieff for over 30 years and played a central role in his decision in the l940s to organize the practice of his teaching.

Gurdjieff wrote Beelzebub’s Tales in Russian and Armenian, and the original manuscript was typed and revised in Russian. An English translation was produced in successive steps at the Prieur