Fons Vitae books blog started 12th March 2006

www.fonsvitae.com

FONS VITAE, a non-profit, charitable foundation, and refereed publishing house, is devoted to making available works from the world's great spiritual traditions which could be of true use to a person of any faith seeking Wholeness or Holiness. Literally translated from Latin as "the fountain of life," fons vitae refers to the Knowledge which flows out to humanity from the Divine Source.

Although Fons Vitae was established in 1997, and has now published over 60 books, its efforts are a continuation of publishing begun in Cambridge, England in 1979 as Quinta Essentia--focused on symbolism, the arts, and universal spirituality-- and the Islamic Texts Society--whose aim is to translate important work in the Islamic tradition, especially Sufism. Our wish is to bring out books which are exquisitely produced and impeccable in scholarship, which could be used with confidence by both the university professor in classes and by the person interested in the eternal verities, with no compromise to a recent soft focus on spirituality. A person seeking the realm of the sacred must have authentic and reliable, traditional sources to find the sustenance required for his or her own path and inspiration.

Works from Fons Vitae often become focal points for events--Merton and Sufism: The Untold Story precipitated a congress at the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine College, Louisville, Kentucky (see The Fons Vitae Thomas Merton Series) . His Holiness the Dalai Lama requested Islam in Tibet and The Ornaments of Lhasa be brought into being. Cairo, 1001 Years of Islamic Art and Architecture and Islam: A Pictorial Essay have been prominent in the film festival of the Middle East Studies Association annual conference.

In addition to our own titles and the more than 30 works published by The Islamic Texts Society, Fons Vitae carries titles by the following presses: Quinta Essentia (Cambridge, England); The Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation (Vaduz, Liechtenstein); The Quilliam Press (Oxford, England); Golgonooza Press (England); Dar Nun (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia); The Foundation for Traditional Studies (Oakton, Virginia); Archetype (Cambridge, England); Turab (Amman, Jordan); Aperture (New York); World Wisdom books (Bloomington, Indiana); Starlatch Press (Chicago, Illinois); Pir Press (New York, New York); Zaytuna Institute Press (Hayward, California); Warid Press (Singapore); White Thread Press (Santa Barbara, California); Anqa Press (Oxford, England) and other small presses and individual titles. Books published by Fons Vitae carry the names of leading authors, translators and editors in the field, such as Tim Winter who achieved high acclaim for his work with The Islamic Texts Society’s al-Ghazali series.

Fons Vitae is a refereed publishing house, which ensures the highest academic standards for its publications. Members of its editorial advisory board include such scholars as: Robert Thurman, Huston Smith, Ewert Cousins, Seyyed Hussein Nasr, Anne Feldhaus, William Chittick and William Graham.. See full list of editorial advisors with biographies.

Fons Vitae is a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation, having 501c3 status. As such, all donations and contributions are eligible for 100% tax deductions, as specified by the Internal Revenue Service.

Fons Vitae also welcomes inquiries and submissions from academic authors. We encourage scholars to submit their manuscripts in any area of World Spirituality. Read more