The University of Chicago Press sold only five copies of its very first book during its initial two years of operation, a humble start for what would become the largest and one of the oldest university presses in North America. Founded in 1890, the press began its life as a discrete entity separate from the university itself, managed by the Boston publishing house D. C. Heath in partnership with the Chicago printer R. R. Donnelley. This external arrangement quickly proved unworkable, leading the university to officially assume full responsibility for the press in 1894. By the turn of the century, the press had already published 127 books and pamphlets alongside 11 scholarly journals, including the Journal of Political Economy and the American Journal of Sociology, signaling a rapid expansion from its near-failure inception. The first book, Robert F. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Letters Belonging to the Kouyunjik Collections of the British Museum, was a specialized academic text that barely found an audience, yet it laid the groundwork for a legacy of scholarly rigor that would define the institution for over a century.
The Decennial Reorganization
In 1902, the press underwent a radical transformation known as the Decennial Publications, a project composed of articles and monographs by scholars and administrators detailing the state of the university and its faculty's research. This initiative allowed the press to begin publishing books by scholars not affiliated with the University of Chicago by 1905, effectively breaking its insular boundaries and establishing it as a national academic force. The addition of a manuscript editing and proofreading department to the existing staff of printers and typesetters led directly to the first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style in 1906, a publication that would eventually become the gold standard for academic writing. By 1931, the press had solidified its reputation as a leading academic publisher, releasing nationally successful titles such as Edgar J. Goodspeed's The New Testament: An American Translation and its successor, The Complete Bible: An American Translation. The era also produced Sir William Alexander Craigie's A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles, published in four volumes in 1943, and John Manly and Edith Rickert's The Canterbury Tales, published in 1940, cementing the press's role in preserving and disseminating critical historical and literary works.
Paperbacks and Best Sellers
The University of Chicago Press first published paperback-bound books in 1956 under its Phoenix Books series, marking a significant shift toward making academic and literary works more accessible to a broader audience. Of the press's best-known books, most date from the 1950s, including translations of the Complete Greek Tragedies and Richmond Lattimore's The Iliad of Homer, which brought classical literature to modern readers. That decade also saw the first edition of A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, a reference work that has since been used by students of Biblical Greek worldwide. The press continued to evolve as a trade publisher, and in 1992, Norman Maclean's books A River Runs Through It and Young Men and Fire became national best sellers, with A River Runs Through It subsequently made into a film directed by and starring Robert Redford. This transition from purely academic output to trade success demonstrated the press's ability to bridge the gap between scholarly research and public interest, a balance that would define its future operations.
In 1966, Morris Philipson began his 34-year tenure as director of the University of Chicago Press, a period during which he committed time and resources to lengthening the backlist and assuming ambitious scholarly projects. Among the largest of these projects was The Lisle Letters, a vast collection of 16th-century correspondence by Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, which provided a wealth of information about every aspect of 16th-century life. Philipson's leadership was so impactful that in 1982, he became the first director of an academic press to win the Publisher Citation, one of PEN's most prestigious awards. Shortly before he retired in June 2000, Philipson received the Association of American Publishers' Curtis Benjamin Award for Creative Publishing, awarded to the person whose creativity and leadership have left a lasting mark on American publishing. His tenure transformed the press from a traditional academic publisher into a dynamic institution capable of handling both massive scholarly undertakings and trade successes, setting a precedent for future directors to follow.
Digital Frontiers and Expansion
Paula Barker Duffy served as director of the press from 2000 to 2007, during which time the press expanded its distribution operations and created the Chicago Digital Distribution Center and BiblioVault, a digital repository for scholarly books. Editorial depth in reference and regional books increased with titles such as The Encyclopedia of Chicago, edited by James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice Reiff, and Timothy J. Gilfoyle's Millennium Park. The press also launched an electronic reference work, The Chicago Manual of Style Online, and in 2013, Chicago Journals began offering e-book editions of each new issue of each journal for use on e-reader devices such as smartphones, iPad, and Amazon Kindle. In 2014, the press received The International Academic and Professional Publisher Award for excellence at the London Book Fair, recognizing its pioneering efforts in digital publishing. These initiatives reflected a strategic shift toward embracing technology, ensuring that scholarly works remained accessible in an increasingly digital world while maintaining the press's commitment to quality and rigor.
A Modern Publishing Powerhouse
Garrett P. Kiely became the 15th director of the University of Chicago Press on the 1st of September 2007, heading one of academic publishing's largest operations, employing more than 300 people across three divisions, books, journals, and distribution. The press publishes 92 journal titles and approximately 280 new books and 70 paperback reprints each year, with over 50 new trade titles published annually across many subject areas. The Books Division has published over 11,000 books since its founding, including such well-known works as The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn and The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek. In July 2009, the press announced the Chicago Digital Editions program, which made many of the press's titles available in e-book form for sale to individuals, and as of August 2016, more than 3,500 titles were available in this format. The press also joined The Association of American Publishers trade organization in the Hachette v. Internet Archive lawsuit, which resulted in the removal of access to over 500,000 books from global readers, highlighting the complex legal and ethical challenges facing modern academic publishing.
Journals and Distribution Networks
The Journals Division of the University of Chicago Press publishes and distributes influential scholarly publications on behalf of learned and professional societies, foundations, museums, and other not-for-profit organizations. As of 2016, it publishes 81 titles in a wide range of academic disciplines including the biological and medical sciences, education, the humanities, the physical sciences, and the social sciences, all of which are peer-reviewed journals of original scholarship. Since 1974, the press has published the prestigious humanities journal Critical Inquiry, and electronic publishing efforts were launched in 1995, with all journals published by the University of Chicago Press available online by 2004. The Chicago Distribution Center began providing distribution services in 1991, when the University of Tennessee Press became its first client, and now serves nearly 100 publishers including Northwestern University Press, Stanford University Press, and Temple University Press. Since 2001, with development funding from the Mellon Foundation, the Chicago Digital Distribution Center has been offering digital printing services and the BiblioVault digital repository services to book publishers, creating a robust network that supports the broader academic publishing ecosystem.
TheUniversityofChicagoPresssoldonlyfivecopiesofitsveryfirstbookduringitsinitialtwoyearsofoperation, ahumblestartforwhatwouldbecomethelargestandoneoftheoldestuniversitypressesinNorthAmerica. Foundedin1890, thepressbeganitslifeasadiscreteentityseparatefromtheuniversityitself, managedbytheBostonpublishinghouseD. C. HeathinpartnershipwiththeChicagoprinterR. R. Donnelley. Thisexternalarrangementquicklyprovedunworkable, leadingtheuniversitytoofficiallyassumefullresponsibilityforthepressin1894. Bytheturnofthecentury, thepresshadalreadypublished127booksandpamphletsalongside11scholarlyjournals, includingtheJournalofPoliticalEconomyandtheAmericanJournalofSociology, signalingarapidexpansionfromitsnear-failureinception. Thefirstbook, RobertF. Harper'sAssyrianandBabylonianLettersBelongingtotheKouyunjikCollectionsoftheBritishMuseum, wasaspecializedacademictextthatbarelyfoundanaudience, yetitlaidthegroundworkforalegacyofscholarlyrigorthatwoulddefinetheinstitutionforoveracentury.