Otto Wilhelm Barth Publishing House

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The Otto Wilhelm Barth Verlag (often abbreviated O. W. Barth ) is a German book publisher based in Munich. His program focuses on texts on Eastern wisdom, the foundations of world religions, astrology and esotericism .

The publishing house was founded in Munich in 1924 by Fritz Werle and Otto Wilhelm Barth . At that time Barth had already appeared as the publisher of occult publications and periodicals. From 1921 he was the editor of the Lotus-Blätter , which were supposed to make old and new literary literature accessible to the members of the Lotus Society by reprinting and publishing. From 1923 he moved Pansophia - primary sources of inner life. Newly announced for the sake of the world by a "Collegium Pansophicum" , a series of publications from the environment of the Pansophic Society . In 1926 Barth, who at the same time had founded two other publishing houses, the Asokthebu and Jati publishing houses, was forced to leave the publishing house named after him. How long Otto Wilhelm Barth Verlag , founded in Leipzig before 1920 , continued to exist remains unclear. From 1922 to 1931 this company was registered in Leipzig under the publisher Ernst Rainer Wunderlich.

The activities of the O. W. Barth publishing house in Munich- Planegg , now abandoned by the namesake , initially turned out to be favorable. Under the direction of Fritz Werle (* 1922) works appeared that corresponded to his main interests: astrology , border sciences , occultism and magic. Fundamental works on astrology were published and, above all, from 1929 and then for many decades the German Ephemeris , a tool that was soon to become indispensable for astrologers.

In 1934 Ursula von Mangoldt , a niece of the murdered Foreign Minister Rathenau , was won over as an employee. She had a doctorate in theology and was an expert in chirology and was to work as an author and translator in the publishing house for many years. Its activities ended for the time being, as the publishing house was temporarily closed by the National Socialists in 1939 and finally liquidated in 1941. But as early as 1946, Ursula von Mangoldt received a publishing license to re-establish the publishing house, which she led in the following years together with Wolf Freiherr von Fritsch and Fritz Werle. Through the publication of respected authors and fundamental works, above all of Eastern philosophy, it was possible to become a publisher in the field of spirituality that was regarded as thoroughly reputable. The O. W. Barth Verlag published the writings of:

In 1973 O. W. Barth was taken over by Scherz Verlag , who sought to expand the existing program towards New Age theorists such as Fritjof Capra or Ken Wilber . Alternative health issues ( traditional Chinese medicine , traditional Tibetan medicine , Ayurveda ) were another new focus of the program . The Scherz Verlag in turn did not remain independent, but has belonged to S. Fischer Verlag since 2003 . At the beginning of 2010 it was announced that Fischer would sell O. W. Barth Verlag to the Droemer Knaur publishing group . Andreas Klaus, who was previously responsible for the program, also switched to Droemer Knaur.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lotus leaves. Organ of the Lotus Society in Munich. Asokthebu, Munich 1921-1925, ZDB -ID 347482-3 .
  2. ↑ Pansophia - original sources of inner life. Ed. by Heinrich Tränker . Barth, Munich / Pansophia-Verlag, Leipzig 1923-1925, ZDB -ID 2103850-8 . 6 volumes published.
  3. ↑ Volker Lechler: The short history of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft. In: Gnostika. Magazine for symbol systems. 17th vol. Issue 52 (May 2013), pp. 59–77 and Issue 53 (November 2013), pp. 43–55, online .
  4. ↑ Droemer Knaur takes over OW Barth Verlag , notification from Droemer Knaur from January 20, 2010.