Associated University Presses (AUP) is a
publishing company
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
based in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, formed and operated as a
consortium
A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
of several American
university press
A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by scholars ...
es. AUP was established in 1966, with the first titles published through AUP appearing in 1968. There were five constituent members in the AUP consortium—
Bucknell University Press
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...
,
University of Delaware Press
The University of Delaware Press (UDP) is a publishing house and a department of the University of Delaware in the United States, whose main campus is at Newark, Delaware, where the University Press is also based.
Established in the early 1970s ...
,
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (FDU Press) is a publishing house under the operation and oversight of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the largest private university in New Jersey, which has international campuses in Vancouver, British Columb ...
,
Lehigh University Press
Lehigh University Press is the publishing house of Lehigh University. Lehigh's university press was a member of the Associated University Presses consortium; other members included Bucknell University Press, University of Delaware Press, Susqueh ...
, and
Susquehanna University Press. Each member university press maintained its own
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
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* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
and editorial control over their published titles, while book production and distribution (both national and international) was the responsibility of AUP.
AUP is a wholly owned
trading name
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
of Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp., a private company established in 1969 and first
incorporated in the state of
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, later reincorporated in New Jersey.
Over 4000 individual titles were issued by AUP under the imprints of the constituent presses, representing a cross-section of academic and scholarly fields. AUP also acted as a distributor of publications from a number of institutes and organizations, such as the
Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...
and the
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare material ...
.
History
Associated University Presses was founded in 1966 by the publisher
Thomas Yoseloff
__NOTOC__
Alfred Smith Barnes (January 28, 1817 – February 17, 1888) was an American publisher and philanthropist.
Early life
Barnes was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to Eli Barnes of Southington, Connecticut, a farmer and innkeeper, who fo ...
, a former director of the
University of Pennsylvania Press
The University of Pennsylvania Press (or Penn Press) is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The press was originally incorporated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 26 Ma ...
in the preceding decade. Yoseloff set up AUP as a publishing co-venture targeted at small- to medium-sized academic publishers. He devised a unique operating model whereby the central AUP office retained responsibility for business operations, distribution,
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
and publishing costs, while the member presses each exercised their own control over editorial decisions, selections and title acquisitions.
The first university press to join with AUP was at
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. The FDU Press had been created in 1967 and became an AUP member shortly thereafter. This was followed by
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...
's press, founded in 1968 and joined with AUP the same year.
University of Delaware
The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...
's press signed in 1975, and
Susquehanna University
Susquehanna University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Its name is derived from the original Susquehannock settlers of the region. Founded in 1858 as a m ...
press in 1981.
Lehigh University
Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...
's press was established and joined in 1985.
Thomas Yoseloff retired in 2000, and was succeeded by his son, Julien. Thomas died on 24 December 2007 aged 94, after a career in publishing spanning six decades. Julien Yoseloff became the sole owner of AUP's parent company in 2000 and continued as managing director of AUP. AUP ceased most new publishing in 2010 but continued to publish annual volumes in various series.
Bucknell University Press
Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...
,
University of Delaware Press
The University of Delaware Press (UDP) is a publishing house and a department of the University of Delaware in the United States, whose main campus is at Newark, Delaware, where the University Press is also based.
Established in the early 1970s ...
,
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (FDU Press) is a publishing house under the operation and oversight of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the largest private university in New Jersey, which has international campuses in Vancouver, British Columb ...
and
Lehigh University Press
Lehigh University Press is the publishing house of Lehigh University. Lehigh's university press was a member of the Associated University Presses consortium; other members included Bucknell University Press, University of Delaware Press, Susqueh ...
entered into a new publishing and distribution agreement with
Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...
, while Susquehanna University Press ceased operations. Starting in July 2018 Bucknell began a new partnership with Rutgers University Press and Delaware with the University of Virginia Press.
AUP published titles almost exclusively 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 the t ...
research fields, with the bulk of its titles, some three-quarters of its accumulated publication backlist, in the sectors of
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
literary theory
Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...
and
literary criticism
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
.
AUP ceased all new publishing after 2022. They continue to license electronic, reprint, and other rights from titles they published. In keeping with Covid protocols, they no longer maintain a physical office. They can be reached at the e-mail address shown on their website.
External links
AUP websiteSusquehanna University Press{{Authority control
University presses of the United States
Book publishing companies based in New Jersey
Middlesex County, New Jersey
Privately held companies based in New Jersey
Publishing companies established in 1966
1966 establishments in the United States