About us

History

In the mid-1970s, school day friends Josef Breitenbach and Fred Kränzlin met at an event organised by today’s Mycological Society Lucerne. The joy of fungi and the desire for research finally prompted the two of them to write their own book, which was intended to appeal equally to laypersons as well as to scientifically interested circles. After about five years of work in the field with the camera, on the microscope with the drawing instrument and on the desk for researching macroscopic descriptions, the two published the first volume of the series “Fungi of Switzerland” in 1981.

The positive response to this book gave the authors the impetus to continue the series, with other volumes following at intervals of about five years. Since the books were also in demand internationally, two teams of experts translated the texts into English and French.

After the sudden and unexpected death of Josef Breitenbach in 1998, Fred Kränzlin produced the last two volumes himself. Fred Kränzlin died in 2017 at the age of 90. Since then, the publishing house has been continued by his daughter Rita Kränzlin and his daughter-in-law Jacqueline Kränzlin, so that the life’s work of the two authors can be made accessible to interested parties also in the future.