The Open Court Publishing Company is a

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

with offices in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

LaSalle, Illinois LaSalle 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 , the city's boundaries have grown to ...

. It is part of the

Carus Publishing Company 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 op ...

Peru, Illinois Peru is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,896 at the 2020 census, down from 10,295 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Peru and its twin city, LaSalle, make up ...

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 Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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. Its first managing editor was

Paul Carus Paul Carus (; 18 July 1852 – 11 February 1919) was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion

, Hegeler's son-in-law through his marriage to engineer Mary Hegeler Carus.Fields 1992, pg. 138 For the first 80 years of its existence, the company had its offices in the

Hegeler Carus Mansion 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 man ...

. Open Court specializes in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

, and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. 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. It also published the journals ''Open Court'' and ''

The Monist ''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. History Init ...

''— 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."

''Open Court'' Journal (1887-1936)

The ''Open Court'' journal was founded in February 1887 as the official publication of the

Free Religious Association 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.Parsons, Gerald. ...

.''Writings of Charles S. Peirce: A Chronological Edition, Volume 8: 1890–1892''. Indiana University Press, 2009. pp. xxiii-xxxiv. 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. Carus edited the journal for 32 years, until his death.

''Popular Culture & Philosophy'' series

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 ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'', ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'', ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

,'' and ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

'' propelled the series into the limelight.

Notes

References

*Fields, Rick. ''How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America'' (1992) Shambhala Publications.

External links