University of Delaware Press and Rutgers University Press have announced a partnership in which Rutgers University Press will provide production, marketing and distribution services for books published by the University of Delaware Press.

“The University of Delaware Press is thrilled to enter into a partnership with Rutgers University Press, another nonprofit publisher committed to publishing high-quality, innovative scholarship,” said Julia Oestreich, director of the University of Delaware Press. “Rutgers has a proven record of cultivating partnerships that allow presses and organizations to improve the quality and extend the impact of their publications.”

The University of Delaware Press is the preeminent publisher of scholarly works in the state of Delaware. Founded in 1922, the University of Delaware Press supports the mission of the University through the worldwide dissemination of high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of fields in the humanities. It is a leading publisher in the fields of literary studies, art history, early modern and 18th-century studies, and material culture. It also publishes works on the history, culture and environment of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of interest to the general public, enhancing the University’s community outreach.

“Despite the challenging climate, UD Press is seeing a period of growth, with the establishment of new series, the increased profile of existing series and the revitalization of its regional list,” said Oestreich. “Rutgers is the right partner to ensure the Press continues on this trajectory while pursuing new and exciting opportunities emerging in the scholarly publishing landscape.”

Rutgers University Press is a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey, under the auspices of Rutgers University. Founded in 1936, Rutgers University Press is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge to scholars, students and the general reading public; and reflects and extends Rutgers University’s core mission of research, instruction and service. It enhances the work of its authors through publications that shape critical issues, spark debate and enrich teaching throughout the world for a wide range of readers.

“Rutgers University Press is proud of the partnerships it has built over the last five years and honored to begin our new endeavor with the University of Delaware Press,” said Henry Turner, vice president for academic initiatives at Rutgers University. “[University of Delaware Press] publishes exceptional and significant books on the state of Delaware and in fields that are critically important to the humanities, such as literary studies, 18th-century studies and history.”

Forthcoming books will begin publishing in the spring 2021 season and will appear in Rutgers University Press’s catalog for the fall/winter 2021-22 season. Rutgers has also inherited a number of classic University of Delaware Press titles, particularly in the fields of literary studies and art history.

“Our partnership will not only expand the reach of Delaware’s books but lift Rutgers’s list as well,” said Rutgers University Press Director Micah Kleit. “Publishing is a mature business, where growth must be found by increasing our market share while also expanding our output, and this partnership allows our combined publishing operations to do both in these challenging times."

“As our Library-based publishing services evolve and expand, this partnership will provide essential services for the University of Delaware Press,” said Monica McCormick, associate university librarian for Publishing, Preservation, Research and Digital Access at UD. “We are delighted to be working with the skilled professionals at Rutgers University Press, whose combination of traditional and innovative methods will ensure that our works reach the widest possible audience. We look forward to engaging the future of scholarly publishing with them.”

New University of Delaware Press titles include additions to prestigious series: Performative Polemic: Anti-Absolutist Pamphlets and Their Readers in Late 17th-Century France, England’s Asian Renaissance, and Storytelling in 16th-Century France: Negotiating Shifting Forms under The Early Modern Exchange; and Making Ideas Visible in the 18th Century under the Studies in 17th- and 18th-Century Art and Culture series. The new Performing Celebrity series will see its first volumes published in 2021: Celebrity Across the Channel, 1750-1850; Black Celebrity: Contemporary Representations of Postbellum Athletes and Artists; and Carrying All Before Her: Celebrity Pregnancy and the London Stage, 1689-1800. Also, the first volume in the Material Culture Perspectives series, Elusive Archives: Material Culture in Formation, will publish this spring. The Press will publish Votes for Delaware Women under its Cultural Studies of Delaware and the Eastern Shore series, and other titles of regional significance include the documentary editions Writings of Warner Mifflin and the second volume of The Complete Writings and Selected Correspondence of John Dickinson.

For more information, visit udpress.udel.edu or rutgersuniversitypress.org.