The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
company and
academic publishing house with editorial offices in
Lewiston, New York, and
Lampeter, Wales. It was founded, in 1972, by the
religious studies scholar Professor
Herbert W. Richardson.
The press is a "non-subsidy academic publisher of books in the
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...
and social sciences" releasing "
Monograph
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monogra ...
s,
critical editions
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...
, collections, translations, revisionist studies, constructive
essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
s, bibliographies, dictionaries, reference guides and
dissertations
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
".
Most Mellen books are in English but many are also in a variety of other languages, including French, German, Spanish, and Russian.
History
When it was founded in 1972, the press's initial purpose was to publish specialized scholarship produced in
Richardson's department at the
University of St Michael's College (a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
institution federated with the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
). Early releases by the press included
bibliographies,
translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
s, and
dissertations
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
completed by
faculty
Faculty may refer to:
* Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage)
* Faculty (division)
A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject ...
and
doctoral
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' l ...
students at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
.
[
]
Richardson operated the press, initially, from the basement of his home. He named it in honour of his grandfather, Edwin Mellen, who was a lover of books.
Richardson's great-grandfather was
Isaac Adams, a
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
politician who invented the Adams Power Press, which revolutionized the printing industry.
Richardson expanded the press, year by year, publishing works by various scholars outside the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, and the press's academic publishing programme broadened to the wider
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...
and
social science
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of s ...
s, including the fields of poetry, literature, philosophy, music, education and
biblical studies
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 ...
among others. By 1979, the press had grown large enough to warrant larger premises, which Richardson found in
Lewiston,
New York and
Queenston near the
Canada-US border and
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...
.
The press was soon publishing as many as 150 titles a year and the Press opened a
UK office in
Lampeter
Lampeter (; cy, Llanbedr Pont Steffan (formal); ''Llambed'' (colloquial)) is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigio ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, in 1987.
Scholarly publishing
While
university presses often privilege submissions that will appeal to a wide readership, Mellen Press's main interest is whether a work will advance knowledge – even if it is in a highly specialized research area. The press publishes books written at
doctoral
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' l ...
and advanced level – it "values scholar-for-scholar research more than anything" and "the sole criterion for publication is that the manuscript must make a contribution to scholarship". All manuscripts are also independently
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...
.
As a result, Mellen often publishes research that would otherwise be rejected by larger university presses, even on such esoteric topics as the history of the
Macadamia nut industry in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, or the role of
parrots in
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...
. Research libraries are the single main market for Mellen Press's books, with the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
holding 4,926 Mellen titles; and
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
holding 4,731 titles.
The press's Adèle Mellen Prize is awarded to an author for a book which, in the considered judgment of the press’s independent peer-reviewers, is deemed to make a "distinguished contribution to scholarship".
Recipients have included
Joyce E. Salisbury (1985),
Elizabeth A. Clark (1986),
Karl W. Schweizer (1989),
Masudul Alam Choudhury (2002),
Mario I. Aguilar (2004),
Hilmi M. Zawati
Hilmi M. Zawati (Arabic: حلمي زواتي; born in 1953 in Nablus) is an international criminal law and human rights jurist, Professor of Criminal Law, and Chair at the Center for Justice and Accountability (CIAJ).
Zawati has been a speaker ...
(2004),
Michael Egan (2006),
Joëlle Rollo-Koster
Joëlle Rollo-Koster is a Professor of Medieval History in the University of Rhode Island's History Department. On December 6, 2016, she was knighted by the French government with the medal of Chevalier des Palmes académiques. In 2017-2018 she ...
(2008),
Nikolai Tolstoy (2009),
Anna Novakov (2009),
Bahar Davary (2009), and
Sue Brannan Walker (2013), among others.
Selected published works
Mellen authors have included
Marcus Borg,
Francis J. Beckwith,
Dan Cohn-Sherbok,
Don H. Compier,
David Craven,
Richard Coates
Richard Coates (born 16 April 1949, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and educated at Wintringham School) is an English linguist. He was Professor of Linguistics (alternatively Professor of Onomastics) at the University of the West of England, Bristo ...
,
Arthur J. Dewey,
Herman Dooyeweerd,
Nancy McCampbell Grace,
Lisa Kahn,
José Manuel Losada,
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and a prominent thinker in systems theory.
Biography
Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Free State of Prussia, where his father's ...
,
M. Mukundan
Maniyambath Mukundan, (born 10 September 1942) commonly known as M. Mukundan, is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Many of his early works are set in Mahé (Mayyazhi) which has earned him the moniker, ''Mayyazhiyude Kathakaaran''. He is ...
,
David A. Rausch,
Thomas P. Riccio,
Hugh R. Page,
Vladimir Shlapentokh,
Ann Snodgrass,
Albert Spaulding Cook
Albert Spaulding Cook (born October 28, 1925, Exeter, New Hampshire; died July 7, 1998; Providence, Rhode Island) was a noted American literary critic, poet, classical scholar, teacher and translator. He taught Classics, English and Comparativ ...
,
Frederick Stocken
(James) Frederick Stocken (born 1967) is a British classical composer, organist and musicologist.
Compositions
Stocken's music first reached a wide audience with ''Lament for Bosnia'', which was released on CD (becoming the number one best-sell ...
,
Alan Mauritz Swanson,
H. Micheal Tarver,
Jean-François Thiriart,
Huon Wardle, and
Sherifa Zuhur, among others.
*.
*.
*.
*.
*.
*.
*.
*.
*.
*.
Reception
Mellen Press has been described, incorrectly, as a
vanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house where anyone can pay to have a book published.. The term "vanity press" is often used pejoratively, implying that an author who uses such a service is pub ...
(where authors pay to have their books published) despite the fact that the press is a "non-subsidy academic publisher" and does not accept any payments from authors. The Press has been known to sue critics in defense of its own, and its authors', reputations, with some critics claiming that this has further damaged its reputation (the
Streisand Effect).
The press's litigiousness dates from 1993, when Robert West (a disgruntled former employee) contacted
''Lingua Franca'' describing
Richardson
Richardson may refer to:
People
* Richardson (surname), an English and Scottish surname
* Richardson Gang, a London crime gang in the 1960s
* Richardson Dilworth, Mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962)
Places Australia
* Richardson, Australian Capi ...
as a "rogue professor" and Mellen as a "
vanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house where anyone can pay to have a book published.. The term "vanity press" is often used pejoratively, implying that an author who uses such a service is pub ...
". West urged the magazine to publish an exposé. ''Lingua Franca'' commissioned
Warren St John and published his account as the cover story for September/October 1993: "Vanity's Fare: the Peripatetic Professor and his Peculiarly Profitable Press". The article described Mellen as a "quasi-vanity press cunningly disguised as an academic publishing house" and, in particular, ridiculed a book Mellen had published by Joseph R. Washington, Jr., an
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...
of
Religious Studies at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
. In response, the Press took legal action for
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...
against West and ''Lingua Franca''.
The Press's 1994 case against West was settled by West's letter of regret to Richardson for "the difficulties he had with ''Lingua Franca'' magazine and the University of Toronto"; clarifying "I do not believe Herbert Richardson to be a 'rogue professor' nor do I believe that the Edwin Mellen Press was organized to be a vanity operation". However, in 1996, the press lost its
lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...
against ''Lingua Franca'' on grounds that the article in dispute was "supported by an honest assessment of the facts at hand when the article was published".
In 1998, the press sued
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
concerning a
review in one of its publications (the ''
Journal of Theological Studies'') which claimed that Mellen was a
vanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house where anyone can pay to have a book published.. The term "vanity press" is often used pejoratively, implying that an author who uses such a service is pub ...
. In a subsequent issue of the journal, Oxford University Press repudiated the offending statements, apologized, and published a new
book review.
In 2009, the press was successful in suing the
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
Thom Brooks (
Newcastle University) for
defamatory blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...
postings, including one entitled "More reasons to avoid Edwin Mellen Press". Brooks was required to pay financial damages and offered his "sincere apologies" to the Press saying he accepts "without reservation that Mellen does not charge authors anything to have their works published" and "now accepts that there was no truth in any of those allegations and that the criticisms he made...were unjustified".
In 2012, the press pursued lawsuits against
McMaster University and one of its librarians, Dale Askey. While working at
Kansas State University
Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...
in 2010, Askey had criticized Mellen Press on his blog (a post he deleted shortly before the Press filed suit). The
Canadian Association of University Teachers and others condemned the press for what they called
SLAPP lawsuits intended to curtail
academic freedom
Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach ...
.
Martha Reineke, a
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...
of
Religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
at the
University of Northern Iowa
The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business administration, Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social science ...
, started a
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offi ...
demanding that the press drop the suits (garnering 2,691 names). In February 2015, the last of the lawsuits was settled out of court. Askey said, "The outcome of this case is essentially a neutral outcome for academic freedom. Both parties walk away from the matter admitting nothing and resolving nothing".
In 2013, the Press threatened legal action against
The Society for Scholarly Publishing for publishing blog posts containing what it characterized as "disparaging comments" and for allowing "libelous statements" to be posted in the reader comments section on ''
The Scholarly Kitchen''. These posts were first removed and then restored in their entirety; but a reader comment which Mellen Press had found objectionable was removed.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
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