Octagon Press

Octagon Press was a cross-cultural publishing house based in London, UK. It was founded in 1960 by Sufi teacher, Idries Shah to establish the historical and cultural context for his ideas. The company ceased trading in 2014.

Description

Octagon Press published many of Shah's later works. In addition, the publishing house has produced translations of Sufi classics and titles by other notable authors, focusing on the fields of the humanities, cultural geography, literature, poetry, folklore, psychology, travel and philosophy.

Shah used Octagon Press to increase the availability of information on Afghanistan, aware that there would be a need for such information after the country's recent history. Two of his books, ''Darkest England'' (1987) and ''The Natives are Restless'' (1988), "traced affinities between the English and Afghan peoples".

For many years Octagon Press sold the academic monographs published by the London Institute for Cultural Research, now sold directly by the ICR. A number of the classical works were published with the aid of the Sufi Trust.

The Octagon Press Limited was registered in the United Kingdom as a limited liability company at Companies House on 10 January 1972.Company details of Octagon Press Limited (The) at ukdata.com
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In 2014, it was stated on the official web site that "The Octagon Press announces that it is to cease from trading in its current form. The works of Idries Shah will henceforth be represented by ISF Publishing, a part of The Idries Shah Foundation. Existing editions of Octagon Press titles will no longer be available. Idries Shah's corpus of work will be relaunched in entirety in new printed and eBook editions."

Authors

* Morag Murray Abdullah, a Scottish travel writer who journeyed through Central Asia.
*Jack L. Bracelin, a biographer. One of the first Octagon titles was the biographical work, ''Gerald Gardner: Witch''. Attributed to Jack L. Bracelin, it was in fact ghost-written by Shah, who was Gardner's secretary at the time of writing.

* Sir Richard Burton, an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat.
* Edward Campbell, a Fleet Street journalist and an acknowledged authority on circuses and the training of wild animals, who had a book ''The People of the Secret'' published for a time by Octagon, written under the pseudonym "Ernest Scott". The book featured an introduction by the philosopher and prolific novelist Colin Wilson.

* Amir Habibullah, born Bacha Saqao, the son of a poor water-carrier, who eventually became King of Afghanistan. A year after being crowned, he was overthrown and executed.Dupree, Louis: "Afghanistan", page 459. Princeton University Press, 1973 His autobiography, ''My Life - from Brigand to King'', was published by Octagon.
* Doris Lessing, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007. '' Memoirs of a Survivor'', published in 1974, a novel described by her as 'an attempt at autobiography', was published by Octagon.
*Professor Robert Ornstein, a psychologist, writer, professor at Stanford University, and chairman of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK).
*Amina Shah, a prominent anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, who was for many years the Chairperson of the London-based College of Storytellers. ''The Tale of the Four Dervishes'' has an introduction by Doris Lessing.

*Khalilullah Khalili, Afghanistan's foremost 20th-century poet. The ''Quatrains of Khalilullah Khalili'' was published with both Dari and English versions of the text.

*Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, an Afghan author, poet, diplomat, scholar, and savant.
*Idries Shah, author of over forty books. His most seminal work was ''The Sufis'', which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally.

*Tahir Shah, a writer, reviewer, filmmaker and "intrepid traveller". Four of his earlier works, '' Beyond the Devil's Teeth'', '' In Search of King Solomon's Mines'', '' Sorcerer's Apprentice'' and '' The Middle East Bedside Book'' are published or distributed by Octagon.

*Denise Winn, a British journalist specializing in psychology and medicine, is a former editor of the UK edition of '' Psychology Today'', has written for national newspapers and magazines in Britain for over 20 years, and is author of a dozen books on psychological and medical topics. ''The Manipulated Mind : Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination'' was published by Octagon.

Classical translations

Notable classical Sufi authors in translation include:
*Al-Ghazali: ''The Alchemy of Happiness''
*Nuruddin Jami: ''Yusuf and Zulaikha''
*Jalal ad-Din Rumi: ''The Teachings of Rumi'' from ''The Masnavi''. Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic jurist, theologian, and mystic. He "is one of the most widely read poets in the United States".
* Saadi of Shiraz: '' The Bostan'' and '' The Gulistan''
*Hakim Sanai: '' The Walled Garden of Truth''
* Mahmud Shabistari: ''The Secret Garden''
* Shah Waliullah of Delhi: ''The Sacred Knowledge''
*''The Religion of the Sufis'' translated from ''The Dabistan''

The compilation ''Four Sufi Classics'' contains:
*Al-Ghazali: ''The Niche for Lights''
*Jami: ''The Abode of Spring''
*Jami: ''Salaman and Absal''
*Sanai: ''The Way of the Seeker''

Reception

Idries Shah's books on Sufism have achieved wide critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC
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