The only edition to include rare, uncollected material from James Allen’s personal periodical and contemporary sources.

For over a century, the words of James Allen have guided millions toward a life of purpose, peace, and prosperity. His masterpiece, As a Man Thinketh, has rightfully taken its place as a foundational text of the self-help movement. But who was the man who lived these truths before he wrote them? And what were the original ideas that shaped his philosophy?
This comprehensive collection includes his 19 books, as well as material unavailable in any other print or audio edition:
- A contemporaneous biographical introduction from 1916, which traces his journey from a working-class Leicester teenager, forced to leave school after his father's tragic death, to a life of spreading his vision from Ilfracombe in Devon as a pioneering voice of the New Thought movement.
- Excerpts from The Light of Reason, the spiritual magazine Allen founded in 1902. This was used to connect reading groups of the Brotherhood, or the School of Virtue, which he established nationally in 1905. Here we feature his editorials, short articles, poems, and answers to readers’ letters. These periodical writings served as the intellectual and spiritual wellspring for his later books.
- Rare, full-text magazine articles that were never incorporated into his books, including 'How Pain Leads to Knowledge and Power', and the poem 'Knowledge'.
An essential volume for anyone seeking not just inspiration, but a practical, lived philosophy for mastering the mind and transforming one's destiny. As his wife and collaborator, Lily Allen, wrote, 'He never wrote theories, or for the sake of writing... but he wrote when he had a message, and it became a message only when he had lived it out in his own life.'