Open Court Publishing Company

Last updated
Open Court Publishing Company
Parent company Carus Publishing Company
Founded1887
FounderEdward Hegeler
Country of origin United States
Headquarters location Chicago
Distribution Publishers Group West
Publication types Books
Nonfiction topicsPhilosophy
Official website www.opencourtbooks.com

The Open Court Publishing Company is a publisher with offices in Chicago and LaSalle, Illinois. It is part of the Carus Publishing Company of Peru, Illinois.

Contents

History

Open Court was founded in 1887 by Edward C. Hegeler of the Matthiessen-Hegeler Zinc Company, at one time the largest producer of zinc in the United States. Hegeler intended for the firm to serve the purpose of discussing religious and psychological problems on the principle that the scientific world-conception should be applied to religion. [1] Its first managing editor was Paul Carus, Hegeler's son-in-law through his marriage to engineer Mary Hegeler Carus. [2] For the first 80 years of its existence, the company had its offices in the Hegeler Carus Mansion. [3]

Open Court specializes in philosophy, science, and religion. It was one of the first academic presses in the country, as well as one of the first publishers of inexpensive editions of the classics. [2] It also published the journals Open Court and The Monist — the latter is still being published. The Open Court Monthly Magazine's motto was "Devoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of Science, and the Extension of the Religious Parliament Idea." [4]

The Open Court

The Open Court journal was founded in February 1887 as the official publication of the Free Religious Association. [5] By the end of 1887, its editor Benjamin F. Underwood resigned and Paul Carus became editor. The Open Court Publishing Company published The Open Court journal until 1936. [5] [6] Carus edited the journal for 32 years, until his death. [7]

One of Open Court Publishing's best-selling series is its semi-annual Popular Culture & Philosophy series, under the editorship of George Reisch. Volumes on the philosophy underpinning such television shows as Star Trek , Seinfeld , The Simpsons, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer propelled the series into the limelight.

See also

Notes

  1. Wikisource-logo.svg Homans, James E., ed. (1918). "Hegeler, Edward C."  . The Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: The Press Association Compilers, Inc.
  2. 1 2 Fields 1992, pg. 138
  3. Jeffrey Felshman (May 31, 2001). "Power House". Chicago Reader.
  4. The Open Court Magazine September, 1915 front cover motto. https://archive.org/stream/opencourt_sept1915caru/opencourt_sept1915caru_djvu.txt
  5. 1 2 Writings of Charles S. Peirce: A Chronological Edition, Volume 8: 1890–1892. Indiana University Press, 2009. pp. xxiii-xxxiv. ISBN   978-0253004215
  6. Mott, Frank Luther. (1938). A History of American Magazines, Volume 4. Harvard University Press. p. 302. ISBN   978-0196264318
  7. Myers, Constance (1964). "Paul Carus and The Open Court: The History of a Journal" (PDF). Midcontinent American Studies Journal. 5 (2): 57–68.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LaSalle, Illinois</span> City in Illinois, United States

LaSalle or La Salle is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States, located at the intersection of Interstates 39 and 80. It is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Originally platted in 1837 over one square mile, the city's boundaries have grown to 12 sq mi (31 km2). City boundaries extend from the Illinois River and Illinois and Michigan Canal to a mile north of Interstate 80 and from the city of Peru on the west to the village of North Utica on the east. Starved Rock State Park is located approximately 5 mi (8 km) to the east. The population was 9,582 as of the 2020 census, down from 9,609 at the 2010 census. LaSalle and its twin city, Peru, make up the core of the Illinois Valley. Due to their combined dominance of the zinc processing industry in the early 1900s, they were collectively nicknamed "Zinc City."

Cricket is an illustrated literary magazine for children published in the United States, founded in September 1973 by Marianne Carus whose intent was to create "The New Yorker for children."

The Carus Publishing Company, now subsumed into Cricket Media, was a publisher with offices in Chicago, Peterborough, New Hampshire and Peru, Illinois. Its Peterborough office was closed June 30, 2015. Its Peru offices have closed as well, and operations primarily occur in Chicago. It owns the Open Court Publishing Company as well as the Cricket Magazine Group, and Cobblestone Publishing. Open Court is known for their Popular Culture and Philosophy books, while Cricket and Cobblestone produce a range of children's magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orestes Brownson</span>

Orestes Augustus Brownson was an American intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and noted Catholic convert and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soyen Shaku</span> Japanese Zen Buddhist master

Soyen Shaku was the first Zen Buddhist master to teach in the United States. He was a rōshi of the Rinzai school and was abbot of both Kenchō-ji and Engaku-ji temples in Kamakura, Japan. Soyen was a disciple of Imakita Kosen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Carus</span> American philosopher

Paul Carus was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion and philosopher.

The New Thought movement is a new religious movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy from a variety of origins, such as Ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese, Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures and their related belief systems, primarily regarding the interaction among thought, belief, consciousness in the human mind, and the effects of these within and beyond the human mind. Though no direct line of transmission is traceable, many adherents to New Thought in the 19th and 20th centuries claimed to be direct descendants of those systems.

Necessitarianism is a metaphysical principle that denies all mere possibility; there is exactly one way for the world to be.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hegeler Carus Mansion</span> Historic house in Illinois, United States

The Hegeler Carus Mansion, located at 1307 Seventh Street in La Salle, Illinois is one of the Midwest's great Second Empire structures. Completed in 1876 for Edward C. Hegeler, a partner in the nearby Matthiessen Hegeler Zinc Company, the mansion was designed in 1874 by noted Chicago architect William W. Boyington. The mansion is now owned and operated by the Hegeler Carus Foundation, and is open to the public. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2007.

<i>The Monist</i> Academic journal

The Monist: An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of philosophy. It was established in October 1890 by American publisher Edward C. Hegeler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Sanders Peirce bibliography</span>

This Charles Sanders Peirce bibliography consolidates numerous references to the writings of Charles Sanders Peirce, including letters, manuscripts, publications, and Nachlass. For an extensive chronological list of Peirce's works, see the Chronologische Übersicht on the Schriften (Writings) page for Charles Sanders Peirce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Weisbach</span> German mathematician and engineer

Julius Ludwig Weisbach was a German mathematician and engineer.

Carus as a surname may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Religious Association</span> American freethought organization

The Free Religious Association (FRA) was an American freethought organization that opposed organized religion and aimed to form in its place a universal rational religion free of dogma or theology based on evolutionary science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashallah Shamsolvaezin</span> Iranian newspaper and magazine publisher (born 1957)

Mashallah Shamsolvaezin is an Iranian newspaper and magazine publisher who edited many of post-revolutionary Iran's first and most widely circulated independent newspapers, including Kayhan, Jame'eh, Neshat, and Asr-e Azadegan. He currently serves as the spokesman for the Iranian Committee for the Defense of Freedom of the Press, and also as vice president of the Association of Iranian Journalists. A recipient of the 2000 CPJ International Press Freedom Award, Shamsolvaezin has been imprisoned multiple times for his journalistic activities. On June 29, 2014, he was charged with "propaganda against the state" and banned from leaving Iran. As of July 2014, he is on bail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward C. Hegeler</span>

Edward Carl Hegeler was an American zinc manufacturer and publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick William Matthiessen</span> American philanthropist and industrialist

Frederick William Matthiessen was a philanthropist, industrialist, and mayor of LaSalle, Illinois. He was instrumental in the creation of Matthiessen State Park. Matthiessen was the paternal grandfather of scholar and Harvard professor F.O. Matthiessen.

The scholarly study of the Baháʼí Faith, its teachings, history and literature is currently conducted in a variety of venues, including institutes of the Baháʼí administration as well as non-affiliated universities. Some scholars study some aspect of the Baháʼí Faith as part of research on related matters while others engage in Baháʼí studies as a primary focus of their research. Scholars' comments on the religion and its predecessor Bábism date back to at least 1845, the year after its founding. Initially, they were often Orientalists or Christian missionaries but through time both Baháʼís and non-Baháʼí researchers have addressed the religion especially in tune with the growth of the religion, which has been called significant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Company</span> Zinc manufacturer

The Mattheissen and Hegeler (M&H) Zinc Company was a zinc manufacturing company headquartered in LaSalle, Illinois. At one time, the family-owned company was the largest zinc manufacturing plant in the United States. The company brought zinc ore from Wisconsin and Missouri to the coal fields of Northern Illinois. The company and its founders had a large influence in the development of LaSalle & Peru, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Hegeler Carus</span> American engineer, editor and entrepreneur (1861–1936)

Mary Hegeler Carus was an American engineer, editor and entrepreneur. In 1882 she was the first woman to graduate in engineering from the University of Michigan.

References