University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press opened its doors in 1890. Its first book was Robert F. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Letters Belonging to the Kouyunjik Collections of the British Museum. That volume sold only five copies during its initial two years of availability. The press operated as a separate entity for three years under the management of D. C. Heath, a Boston publishing house. They partnered with R. R. Donnelley, a printer based in Chicago. This external arrangement proved unworkable by 1894. The university officially assumed full responsibility for operations that year. By 1900, the press had published 127 books and pamphlets alongside 11 scholarly journals. These early titles included the Journal of Political Economy and the American Journal of Sociology.
A manuscript editing and proofreading department joined the existing staff of printers and typesetters in 1906. This expansion led directly to the first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. The Decennial Publications began in 1902 as part of a radical reorganization of the press. Articles and monographs by scholars detailed the state of the university and its faculty research. By 1905, the press started publishing books by scholars who were not affiliated with the University of Chicago. Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations became another landmark work. Sir William Alexander Craigie published A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles in four volumes during 1943. The press also released John Manly and Edith Rickert's The Canterbury Tales in 1940. Edgar J. Goodspeed's The New Testament: An American Translation served as the press's first nationally successful title before 1931.
Norman Maclean's book A River Runs Through It became a national best seller in 1992. Young Men and Fire followed shortly after as another commercial hit from that year. Robert Redford directed and starred in a film adaptation of A River Runs Through It. The press began issuing paperback-bound books in 1956 under the Phoenix Books series imprint. Most of the press's best-known titles date from the 1950s decade. Richmond Lattimore translated The Iliad of Homer into English during this period. Translations of the Complete Greek Tragedies also appeared then. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature saw its first edition release in the same decade. That lexicon has since been used by students of Biblical Greek worldwide. F. A. Hayek published The Road to Serfdom in 1944, which remains a well-known work today.
Morris Philipson began his tenure as director in 1966 and served for 34 years. He committed time and resources to lengthening the backlist of available works. One of the largest projects he assumed was The Lisle Letters, a vast collection of 16th-century correspondence. Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle wrote these letters, providing information about every aspect of life in that century. Philipson became the first director of an academic press to win the Publisher Citation award in 1982. He received the Curtis Benjamin Award for Creative Publishing shortly before retiring in June 2000. Paula Barker Duffy served as director from 2000 to 2007. She expanded distribution operations and created the Chicago Digital Distribution Center. Garrett P. Kiely took office on the 1st of September 2007, as the 15th director. He now heads one of academic publishing's largest operations with more than 300 employees.
BiblioVault operates as a quasi-independent digital repository for scholarly books under the press. Electronic publishing efforts were launched by the Journals Division in 1995. By 2004, all journals published by the University of Chicago Press were available online. In 2013, Chicago Journals began offering e-book editions of each new issue for use on devices like smartphones and Amazon Kindles. The press announced the Chicago Digital Editions program in July 2009. This initiative made many titles available in e-book form for sale to individuals. As of August 2016, more than 3,500 titles existed in this format. The contents of The Chicago Manual of Style are available online to paid subscribers. The press also publishes an electronic reference work called The Chicago Manual of Style Online.
The Chicago Distribution Center began providing distribution services in 1991. The University of Tennessee Press became its first client that year. The center serves nearly 100 publishers including Northwestern University Press and Stanford University Press. Development funding from the Mellon Foundation supported the Chicago Digital Distribution Center since 2001. This unit offers digital printing services and BiblioVault digital repository services to book publishers. In 2009, the CDC enabled sales of electronic books directly to individuals. It provided digital delivery services for the University of Michigan Press among others. The center has partnered with additional presses such as the University of Missouri Press and West Virginia University Press. Publications of the Getty Foundation also utilize these distribution services today.
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Common questions
When did the University of Chicago Press open its doors?
The University of Chicago Press opened its doors in 1890. Its first book was Robert F. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Letters Belonging to the Kouyunjik Collections of the British Museum.
What year did the University of Chicago Press start publishing books by scholars who were not affiliated with the university?
By 1905, the press started publishing books by scholars who were not affiliated with the University of Chicago. This expansion included landmark works like Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.
Who directed the University of Chicago Press from 2007 until his tenure ended?
Garrett P. Kiely took office on the 1st of September 2007 as the 15th director. He now heads one of academic publishing's largest operations with more than 300 employees.
Which University of Chicago Press title became a national best seller in 1992?
Norman Maclean's book A River Runs Through It became a national best seller in 1992. Young Men and Fire followed shortly after as another commercial hit from that same year.
When was the first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style published by the University of Chicago Press?
The Decennial Publications began in 1902 as part of a radical reorganization of the press. A manuscript editing and proofreading department joined the existing staff of printers and typesetters in 1906 which led directly to the first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.