Roderick Thurber

Roderick Thurber is the name credited as the author of Revelation of Sex Mysteries, published in Chicago by the Yogi Publication Society in 1924. Very little biographical information can be found for Thurber outside of this single book, making it probable that Roderick Thurber was a pseudonym used by a writer associated with the Yogi Publication Society or its publishing network.

Unlike authors who can be traced through newspapers, directories, professional records, other books, or contemporary biographical sources, Roderick Thurber appears almost entirely in connection with Revelation of Sex Mysteries. Library records identify Thurber as the author, but provide no accompanying dates, occupation, institutional affiliation, or other biographical information. The Yogi Publication Society itself appears to have published only this one title under the Thurber name.

That absence is notable because pseudonyms were already an established part of YPS publishing. The Society had issued books under names including Yogi Ramacharaka, The Three Initiates, Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Bhakta Vishita, and Swami Panchadasi. A previously unknown author appearing for a single specialized YPS book fits a pattern already well established within the publishing network.

The Thurber name also continued to be used without the development of any identifiable public authorial career. An Occult Digest advertisement from 1926 simply lists “Roderick Thurber” above Revelation of Sex Mysteries, priced at $2.00, while later occult book catalogs continued to carry the title under the same name. No additional works or substantial biography accompanied those listings.