Rare indeed it is in these changing times that a book lives on through a century in ever-increasing demand and takes its place in current reading by the side of books dealing with present issues. Yet such is the enviable record of Early Writings of Ellen G. White. Through the years there have been many printings of the several editions. It now appears in a fifth American edition.
This popular little volume is rightly named, being a republication of the first three Ellen G. White books—Christian Experience and Views of Mrs. E. G. White, First printed in 1851; A Supplement to Experience and Views, Issued in 1854; and Spiritual Gifts, Volume I, which appeared in 1858.
The wide and lasting popularity of Early Writings may be attributed to the unwaning desire to possess and study the messages of information and encouragement which came early to the Church through the prophetic gift. EW iii.3
The second printing of this matter was made in 1882 in two small volumes—Experience and Views and the Supplement comprising the first, and Spiritual Gifts the second. As to certain additions to the first of these original works and some slight editorial changes made at that time, the publisher’s preface states: EW iii.4
“Footnotes giving dates and explanations, and an appendix giving two very interesting dreams, which were mentioned but not related in the original work, will add to the value of this edition. Aside from these, no changes from the original work have been made in the present edition, except the occasional employment of a new word, or a change in the construction of a sentence, to better express the idea, and no portion of the work has been omitted. No shadow of change has been made in any idea or sentiment of the original work, and the verbal changes have been made under the author’s own eye, and with her full approval.” EW iii.5
