Publishers Press history

Although for a year or two it functioned only as a printer, in 1892 the Press began publishing scholarly books and journals, making it one of the oldest continuously operating university presses in the United States.

The American Journal of Sociology, founded in 1895, is the oldest journal devoted to sociology.

The Press’s fortunes began to change in 1902 when work commenced on the Decennial Publications.

Founded in 1905 by Princeton alumnus Whitney Darrow, Princeton University Press had its start as Princeton Alumni Press, a small printing operation serving the University, publishing the Princeton Alumni Weekly in a rented office above a drugstore on Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey.

Most notably, a copyediting and proofreading department was added to the existing staff of printers and typesetters, leading, in 1906, to the first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.

The Social Service Review was founded in 1927, just as social work was being established as a profession.

Known simply as “Turabian,” what started as a pamphlet for students produced in the basement of the Press Building in 1937 has become a gold-standard reference work for students everywhere, selling millions of copies to generations of students.

Both the Books and Journals Divisions of the Press were separated from the printing operation by 1951, leaving those divisions accountable to the University’s academic officers, and the printing department reporting to the University’s business officers.

In 1956 the first paperbacks were issued under the Press’s imprint.

The annual Laing Award, established in 1963, celebrates this partnership in recognizing books written by Chicago faculty that bring the greatest distinction to the Press.

In 1967, Morris Philipson began his tenure as director of the Press, a position he occupied for thirty-three years.

1976: Publishers Group West formed as a subsidiary of Page Ficklin Publishers.

1977: PGW purchased by Charlie Winton, Jerry Ficklin, and several others.

After a period of modest growth, PGW was purchased by Winton, Ficklin and two others from Page Ficklin in 1978.

In 1979 PGW moved its headquarters to Emeryville, California.

Sales of audiotapes, which PGW began handling in 1980, took off in the latter part of the decade, with Shakti Gawain's Creative Visualization selling more than 150,000 units.

Philipson became known for taking on ambitious scholarly projects, among the largest of which was The Lisle Letters, a six-volume work that the New York Times called “one of the most extraordinary historical works in the century” and that won the Carey-Thomas Award for creative publishing in 1981.

In 1982, Philipson became the first director of an academic press to win one of PEN’s most prestigious awards, the Publisher Citation.

1983: PGW signs distribution contract with Carroll & Graf.

In 1985, PGW experienced a difficult year.

In 1989, sales hit $25 million, the company having grown almost fourfold in less than ten years.

While the scholarly output of the Press expanded, the Press also made significant strides as a trade publisher when both of Norman Maclean’s books—A River Runs Through It and Young Men and Fire—made national best-seller lists in 1992 when Robert Redford made a movie of A River Runs Through It.

When Amazon launched in 1994, it became much easier to sell your book online.

In 1996, the unit purchased 20 percent of Carroll & Graf, which allowed that publisher to more aggressively seek out big new titles.

1997: PGW distributes bestseller Cold Mountain from Grove/Atlantic.

Early in 1998, Avalon purchased the remaining portion of Carroll & Graf.

The Press employs 275 people across its three divisions of Books, Journals, and Distribution, most of whom are housed in a building built in 2000 to meet the growing needs of the enterprise.

The Chicago Digital Distribution Center was created in 2001 and provides book publishers with on-site digital printing services, as well as digital repository services for UCP and client presses through BiblioVault.

When CreateSpace, then called CustomFlix Labs, launched in 2002, it changed the game: it allowed authors to print and bind books like any other professional book on the market.

Founded in 2004, The History Press publishes local and regional history and culture from coast to coast.

Garrett P. Kiely became the fifteenth director of the University of Chicago Press in September 2007.

In 2014, The Press was awarded the prestigious International Academic and Professional Publisher Award at the London Book Fair.