Golden Quill Publishers, Inc.

Golden Quill Publishers, Inc. was incorporated on April 22, 1978. It was founded by Doctor Halstead's son, Larry D. Halstead, for the purpose of publishing all of his work in alternative medicine.

History of Golden Quill Publishers

Larry had graduated from UC Davis with a double major in Political Science at the end of 1976. During his last quarter at Davis, he starting working as an intern for the American Academy of Medical Preventics (AAMP) in Sacramento, and the job continued as his first employment after graduation. AAMP was created to promote the use of Chelation Therapy a few years earlier and was working toward the legalization of this new innovative health modality.

Larry was hired to perform work as a lobbyist in Sacramento and to act as an event coordinator for putting on conventions for the doctors who were members of the Academy and for the lay public to educate them about Chelation Therapy. After Chelation Therapy became legal and made into mainstream medicine, the Academy changed its name to the American Academy for the Advancement of Medicine.

In the middle of 1977, budget cuts with the Academy resulted in Larry getting his job cut and he seized the opportunity to hit the road, exploring the great Northwest. Thousands of miles, some wild adventures, and a broken leg from sky jumping, later, he found himself back in the homeland of Southern California.

By this point, Doctor Halstead had been operating a preventive medical clinic in Redlands for several years. Along the way, he had found the need to write a couple of small publications to help educate his patients on two of the therapies he was utilizing in their treatment. The first was on Chelation Therapy and the second was on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Someone at the clinic who knew nothing about printing or publishing had been handling the production of these two publications and they definitely reflected that lack of knowledge.

Although they were not much more than photocopied publications, they were proving quite useful for the purpose of educating the patients. They had also found a market with other Chelation doctors and they were being reproduced by the thousands. Despite their poor quality of printing, the younger Halstead saw an opportunity and the idea for an 'in house' publishing company was born.

Larry went to work on the two publications and redesigned them to look more like professional booklets and less like cheesy advertising pamphlets. He had the copy reset in type, utilized better paper for the inside and a thicker textured stock for the cover. He had the outside designed with a professional look, added references and a table of contents on the inside.

The Incorporation of Golden Quill Publishers

At the same time, Larry had come up with a name for the new publishing effort and filed articles of incorporation with the state of California for Golden Quill Publishers, Inc. on April 22, 1978. He utilized his father's favorite illustrator, Robert H. Knabenbauer, to come up with the logo and the new publishing company was well on it's way.

Golden Quill logo
by Knabenbauer

As an idea of how to market the first two publications, Larry spent time researching the law and wrote a publication entitled: "The Doctor's Legal Responsibility to Inform their Patients." The law requires that whenever a doctor administers a therapy or treatment with their patients that they inform them of any harmful side effects as well as all other alternative methods of treating the problem. These booklets by Doctor Halstead had the ability to meet those legal requirements in a inexpensive booklet that also gave detailed information about the therapy at the same time. Larry sent his legal booklet along with the two therapy booklets and a cover letter to all doctors practicing those therapies, offering them a discount for purchases of a case or more at a time.

The result was that over the course of the sales life of the booklets, hundreds of thousands of copies were sold and the growth of the publishing company was financed through those sales. Doctor Halstead was energized by the success of those booklets and was inspired to write more booklets. What followed was four more booklets entitled: Metabolic Cancer Therapy, Amygdalin (Laetrile) Therapy, Gerovital (Procaine) Therapy, and A Guide To Vitamins and Minerals. Eventually Golden Quill also published Doctor Halstead's Curriculum Vitae in booklet form as well.

By this time, Doctor Halstead way deep into his research on Chelation Therapy and was already being recognized as an emerging expert on the subject. As a result, doctors across the country and around the world were calling to ask his advice on the techniques of administering the revolutionary therapy. Doctor Halstead had been contracting with Knabenbauer to create a series of illustrations that demonstrated the mechanisms of Chelation Therapy and how it worked on a cellular level in the human body. He had the illustrations copied onto slides for presentations as needed. With doctors calling all the time, Doctor Halstead wrote a twenty page protocol for using Chelation and would send the doctors a copy along with a set of the slides for fifty dollars.

The Making of the Definitive Text on Chelation Therapy

Originally written as a booklet handout for doctors,
this book quickly became the definitive text on
Chelation Therapy and established Doctor Halstead
as a leading authority and pioneer in Alternative Medicine

At this point, Doctor Halstead came up with the idea of this new Chelation protocol being published as another one of Golden Quill's booklet and presented the idea to Larry. After contemplating the idea, Larry came up with the idea of producing as a full blown text on the subject, incorporating all of the full color illustrations contained on the slides. Bruce's reaction to the idea was to scoff at the notion thinking how much a publication with that much color work would cost. He said it was cost prohibitive and he was more anxious to get the protocol into print as quickly and as inexpensively as possible. The debate became rather heated and ended when Larry suggested that his father should back off and see if he could raise the money on his own. Bruce laughed saying that there was no way he would ever be able to come up with the money, making a solid prediction of failure on the idea.

So Larry rose to the challenge wanting to prove his father wrong on this issue. Within a couple of days he had called his old employers at AAMP and told them about the project. He offered them a generous discount in exchange for a sizable advanced order. They immediately realized the value in the work and hastily accepted the offer. Larry then turned to the Robert W. Bradford Foundation and made them a similar offer. Bob Bradford was a friend of Doctor Halstead and also the owner of American Biologics which supplied nutritional products and medical supplies to alternative medical doctors.

Within a few days, Larry had secured all necessary funding for the project much to his father's surprise. He responded to the news by deciding to expand on the work with considerable additional yet valuable information. As a result, Golden Quill published The Scientific Basis of EDTA Chelation Therapy in 1979, which established Doctor Halstead as the world authority on the subject and paved the way for his world-wide reputation as the scientific expert and pioneer on alternative medicine.

The DMSO Handbook
This book did much to advance the use of DMSO,
especially as an adjunct in the practice of Chelation Therapy

As Doctor Halstead's reputation continued to grow, so too did the new publishing company with the sales of Halstead's publications. As the use of Chelation Therapy continued to enjoy widespread acceptance, a relatively new compound was also gaining attention. DMSO is a byproduct of pine wood pulp and has both a solvent grade and a pharmaceutical application for a wide range of ailments. There is a topical ointment form for use in things like arthritis, bursitis, and inflammation. There is also an injectable grade that is used in an IV drip method of administration that has shown promise for some cancers as well as arthritis.

Doctor Halstead started doing research on the product and soon became a true believer. Doctor Halstead pioneered the use of DMSO in the IV drip of wringers lactate that also contained the EDTA chelating compound. He used to say that if stuck on an island and could only have one compound, he would choose DMSO. His research led to a manuscript on the subject and by 1981, Golden Quill Published The DMSO Handbook in both hard bound and soft bound versions of the book.

By this point, Doctor Halstead had made a fundamental shift in the focus of his research and his writing away from the focus on bio-toxicology and more toward his future as a expert and pioneer in new health modalities. His writing had intensified and he became obsessed in getting his latest manuscript into print as quickly as possible. If this meant sacrificing publishing quality for speedy down and dirty quick production then it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Companies that were courting his favor to act as a consultant on their products or other ventures, were more than willing to offer to get his books printed and as quickly as he was demanding. But printing is an aspect of publishing and not a replacement for it altogether. With no background in publishing, these companies would turn out a product that wasn't worthy of Halstead's reputation. This fact is reflected in his next book which was on Siberian Ginseng and the quality of production speaks for itself.

Doctor Halstead was many things to many people most of which earned him great respect and deep appreciation of his work from a broad base of supporters around the world. But his intense focus on his work left a certain void in some of his personal relationships especially with his family. He and his son Larry had somewhat of a falling out based on the disrespect his son felt about what he was trying to do for his father.

As is often the case with genius types, their greatness often comes at a price to those closest to them. While more could be said on this subject, the outcome does not change and the result of that situation is that Golden Quill did not publish any more of Doctor Halstead's work during his life time. Golden Quill did continue to publish a wide range of publication for other people and organizations including some other books, newsletters and promotional materials.

Future of Golden Quill, World Life
and Doctor Halstead's Publications

However, Golden Quill was founded for the purpose of maintaining quality control along with preserving all rights to Doctor Halstead's work and protect that as the exclusive domain of World Life Research Institute. Now that he is no longer with us, it is a goal of World Life to obtain all necessary rights and to establish all of his work back under the umbrella and protection of the Golden Quill/ World Life label. In this way, all of Doctor Halstead's books will maintain only the highest of publishing standards.All of his work in alternative health need to be updated and revised in that process. Other potential publications based on Doctor Halstead's work and writings are also being planned.

Business Card for Golden Quill Publishers, Inc.

at the time it was established
(note that phone and address information is no longer valid)

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