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University Press marks 30th anniversary with AUP
2:11 p.m., Oct. 6, 2006--The University of Delaware Press celebrated the 30th anniversary of its affiliation with the Associated University Presses based in Cranbury, N.J., and headed by Julien Yoseloff, director, on Sept. 21. All past and current members of the Press Editorial Board who were present were acknowledged. At the celebration, which was held in the Reserve Room of the Morris Library, UD Provost Daniel Rich began his remarks quoting a vice chancellor of Cambridge University who said, “A university press is a core component of the educational offering of a great university.” Rich observed that the University of Delaware Press has been in existence for many years, with its first publication issued in 1923, a collection of ten essays by Glenn Frank, editor of Century Magazine, appearing under the title, “An American Looks at His World: Variations on a Point of View.” There were then some non-productive years with very little published until a report entitled “Scholarly Publishing at the University of Delaware: A Study in Alternatives” was produced in January 1975 under the direction of L. Leon Campbell, the provost at the time, and the late John W. Shirley, provost emeritus. UD then entered into an agreement with the Associated University Presses. The agreement is dated June 6, 1975, and was signed by then-UD President E. Arthur Trabant and Thomas Yoseloff, Julien Yoseloff's father, and attested to by Daniel Wood, secretary of the University of Delaware. “The seeds of that Agreement have born rich and plentiful fruit,” Rich said, and he observed that the University of Delaware Press with the Associated University Presses has now published nearly 700 books, books which have received numerous awards and national and international recognition. The Press is especially known for its publications in Renaissance studies, 18th-century studies, Colonial American literature, art history, and two occasional series: studies in 17th-18th-century art and culture and history of Delaware and the Eastern Shore. Since 1985, 22 books have received Choice awards for academic excellence, three in the past year. Other recent honors include the Modern Language Association Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Literary Studies for Jeffrey L. Peters' Mapping Discord: Allegorical Cartography in Early Modern French Writing; the International Byron Society Elma Dangerfield Prize for Peter Cochran's edition of Lord Byron's Life in Italy by Teresa Guiccioli; and the Bibliographical Society of America William L. Mitchell Prize for Bibliography or Documentary Work in Early English Periodicals or Newspapers to William E. Rivers for his new edition of Thomas Amhurst's Terrae-Filius or, The Secret History of the University of Oxford (1721-1726).
Susan Brynteson, the May Morris Director of Libraries to whom the University of Delaware Press reports, paid tribute to the University of Delaware Press by pointing out that it, as do all university presses, sponsors works in specialized and emerging areas of scholarship which do not have the broad levels of readership needed to attract commercial publishers. This often includes the work of younger scholars through publication of their first books. She praised the members of the faculty who are on the editorial board who, she said, “work hard, read industriously and advocate strongly,” sharing different points of view about publication. Donald C. Mell, professor of English, who serves as the chair of the University of Delaware Press editorial board, said he believed a renaissance of university presses is occurring as part of a national trend, and that the anniversary of the University of Delaware Press's 30-year affiliation with AUP is an important affirmation of this venerable university press tradition. He observed that in a 2005 article that, among other things, praised UD President David P. Roselle for his leadership in the world of higher education, James Engell, Gurney Professor of English Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University and an expert in the field of university governance, singled out as among the president's achievements “the continued excellence” of the University of Delaware Press. “The reputation of a university press depends on the quality and cutting-edge importance of the manuscripts published,” Mell said. “I can say without pause that we are pre-eminent in Early Modern, Renaissance, and Shakespeare studies, especially in performance theory and stage history of the latter; in 18th-century studies; in French literature of the 19th century; in American art history. In these areas we are competing with the larger university presses and commercial houses on the same playing field.” Mell also praised the work of Karen G. Druliner, managing editor of the University of Delaware Press. Yoseloff paid tribute to the collaborative relationship that has grown between AUP and the University of Delaware Press, commenting that the Press was a mature and successful endeavor now producing scholarship of extremely high quality. Following some humorous limericks presented by Charles E. Robinson, professor of English, the audience joined in a champagne toast led by Susan Brynteson: “To scholarship, to research, to excellence in writing, to artistic expression, to creativity, to the University of Delaware Press, to AUP and to Julien Yoseloff!”
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