A Publisher in Our Midst

Headquartered in Hanover and jointly sponsored by five institutions, the Press is now in its third year

DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF NEW ENGLAND

The University Press of New England, located in the Nugget Arcade on South Main Street in Hanover (mail address Box 979, Hanover), is not a news bureau or public relations office, nor does it print and distribute course guides, though telephone callers from time to time may think so. UPNE, now in its third year of operation, publishes scholarly manuscripts—usually, but not exclusively, in the form of books.

Why was a new scholarly press started? Aren't there enough already? Judging by the number of those in serious financial difficulties, there may in fact be too many. UPNE, however, is a press with differences:

(1) Although Dartmouth is the administrative host, it is only one of five sponsors, the others being Brandeis, Clark, and the Universities of New Hampshire and Vermont. UPNE is a consortium, dedicated to the proposition that five heads are better than one, especially since the budgetary commitment for each is only one-fifth of the whole.

(2) UPNE's missions are to publish not only the finest scholarly manuscripts in all areas of specialization (primarily monographs written by members of its sponsors' faculties) but also books that advance knowledge of the life and culture of New England. There is no other regional publisher with a broader mandate or more fertile territory, and confidence in the future of the Press has been demonstrated by the Mellon Foundation, which recently awarded it an unsolicited and substantial grant to publish books by young scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

The Press considers itself in tune with a changing world. For example, it is not afraid of computer software, microfilm, microfiche, cassettes, or records; as devices for information storage and retrieval, each has its advantages and disadvantages, as do books themselves. Yet neither is UPNE ready to believe that books are about to become obsolete—and its view is apparently shared by those who are still buying over two billion dollars' worth of books each year. Since that total continues to rise, even scholars who are now using film and fiche readers and plasma sandwiches may feel as does UPNE that coexistence is not only possible but desirable. Books may for some purposes be inefficient; in other respects they are decidedly more efficient. And they are so satisfying to hold in the hand. Marshall McLuhan quotes a sign he claims to have seen at the entrance to an auto graveyard, with approximately this wording: "Improve our junkyards. Throw something away today that's beautiful." Those who claim that books have had their day want to throw away a thing of beauty all its own. Why can't we continue to publish in many different forms, including books? Why can't we all live together in peace and love each other?

UPNE loves authors. Without them, we'd be out of business; and I hope we will never become too occupied to talk with them and to advise them when we can do so usefully. We would like to publish all their manuscripts. That cannot be done but, when we have to decline one, we try to tell the truth about it. Authors frequently won't believe that their work is flawed; sometimes their judgment is right and the Press is wrong. Of only one thing we are sure: we are sympathetic, and every author gets a fair hearing.

A manuscript may be submitted directly to the Press, if an author prefers it that way, or, if he is a faculty member of one of our sponsoring institutions, he may go first to the editorial representative from his institution. (For Dartmouth the representative is Professor Louis Morton.) In either case, it is wise to start things off with a letter of inquiry, giving some details about the study: how long it is, when and why it was written, and its point of view. A table of contents is always helpful, and so is a preface or abstract.

"Thesis" is not a dirty word, but let's not pussyfoot—an unrevised doctoral dissertation generally cannot be published. Even revised theses must present new and important material and must be expertly written. Since the Press can publish relatively few of the manuscripts submitted, it has an obligation to publish the best. If a thesis makes the grade, its author has won in competition with more mature scholars. So much the better; age per se is irrelevant.

All submitted manuscripts are carefully studied. Expert readers are sought, and advice from many quarters is obtained. Semifinalists get as far as the Editorial Committee of the Press, and no publication can appear without that committee's approval.

Typical questions asked by authors: Do you promote your books? Yes. The promotion budget is usually 10 percent of a book's expected sales income. Do you pay royalties? Yes, at standard rates. Do you ask an author topay for the cost of publishing his book? No; that's vanity publishing. Since thePress is young, wouldn't I be better offto publish with a long-established press? Perhaps, but age can stale and custom wither. The more important question is, does the publisher know what he is doing and how to do it? Are you inbusiness to publish books that commercial publishers don't want? Our backlist has a number of titles that a commercial publisher would be glad to have. But since we are a nonprofit unit of Dartmouth and all of our other member institutions are nonprofit institutions, we can keep our eye on quality more than quantity. We can publish books designed for an audience of as few as 1500 readers—in that case usually top specialists in a specialized field.

Important questions that should be asked but often are not: What has thePress published? How has it proveditself? A young press has to be, in part, taken on faith. UPNE in this respect cannot compete with publishers having a large and varied backlist and portfolios of laudatory reviews. It must compensate for its youth by giving authors more personal attention than can be done by large presses, which may catch up a scholar, particularly a young scholar, on the assembly line and move him to publication day and beyond without once consulting him. Our small size is a virtue if it enables us to treat the author as a partner.

JUPNE was conceived some years ago when top administrators at Dartmouth and UNH began at the same time to explore independently the feasibility of establishing a university press on each campus. It soon became apparent that the auspices were more favorable for one press shared by both than for two separate units. The inescapable sequel to that idea was a consortium made up of several more New England institutions. UPNE was started by a few people who believed firmly in the principle of a cooperative press—among them, at Dartmouth, John Kemeny, Leonard Rieser, Edward Lathem, and Alexander Fanelli. Victor Reynolds '27, founding director of the University Press of Virginia and for twenty years before that director of the prestigious Cornell University Press, was brought to Hanover to discuss what might be done and was persuaded to accept the post of founding director of the new venture. On his retirement in May 1972, the present director was imported from Harvard University Press.

In addition to Virginia, there are a number of state-sponsored presses—for example, the university presses of Kansas, Kentucky, and Hawaii—but no other that is multistate. The administrations of the five members of UPNE all believe that the Press has a value in addition to the service it renders as a publisher for their faculties and for New England as a whole: it affords one more way in which six states can work toward the common goal of providing for the educational needs of New England without dilution of quality.

Dartmouth has taken good care of its offspring. No poor relation, UPNE partakes fully of the advantages the College offers. Its staff members are Dartmouth employees and its director, a Dartmouth officer of administration, reports through the Dean of Graduate Studies to the Vice President of the College and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Press succeeds the Dartmouth Publications Office and is now marketing the books still in print bearing the Dartmouth Publications imprint, including such old favorites as F. Allen Burt, The Story of MountWashington; Harold Blodgett, SamsonOccom; Francis Brown, editor, ADartmouth Reader; Ralph Nading Hill, editor. The College on the Hill; and Paul Zeller, editor, Dartmouth SongBook. In addition, the Press markets the Orvil E. Dryfoos Conference reports for the Public Affairs Center and two books for the Kiewit Center, one of which is the highly successful manual for the computer program called BASIC, by Stephen V. F. Waite and Diane G. Mather.

A number of publications by College faculty members have recently been issued and have been well received; two by Noel Perrin, Amateur Sugar Maker and Dr. Bowdler's Legacy; Robert McGrath, Early Vermont Wall Paintings; Franklin W. Robinson, The Meaning of Mannerism; William Phelps Kimball, The First Hundred Years ofthe Thayer School of Engineering; Stephen G. Brush and Allen L. King, History in the Teaching of Physics; Peter Bien, John Rassias, and Chrysanthi Bien, Demotic Greek; and, most recently, Carleton B. Chapman, Dartmouth Medical School: The First 175Years. Peter Gay of Yale has edited Eighteenth Century Studies Presentedto Arthur M. Wilson. A book of poems by Robert Siegel, The Beasts and theElders, is forthcoming.

Because our emphasis is on selectivity rather than size, plans for the future are to publish not more than 25 titles a year and to admit not more than three more universities to full membership, one of which is expected to have joined officially by January 1, 1973. To further our goal of service to the New England area, we hope to build a cooperative distribution center equipped to warehouse and ship books issued by a selected group of nonprofit institutions. The Press is also working actively with two state historical societies to develop publications of mutual benefit and statewide importance and is considering a proposal to cooperate with a museum and historical site to develop an active publishing program.

The next two years will be crucial. Press management is not underestimating the difficulties of launching a publishing venture even in the best of times, but neither is this the worst of times, and no enterprise was ever started with more good will on its side than has been forthcoming from the College and the other participating institutions. As this is being written, we are in the winter of hope—a typically Hanoverian winter, invigorating and beautiful. In the winter, as any College graduate knows, you may have to work a little harder, but there is a lot of pleasure too.

THE AUTHOR: David Home became Director of the University Press of New England last May, after being with the Harvard University Press for six years, first as assistant director in charge of the editorial department, then as associate director, and for a short period as acting director. Earlier he was executive editor of the Yale University Press. He did his undergraduate work at Clark University and received a Ph.D. at Yale, where he taught English literature before entering scholarly publishing. In his present position at Dartmouth, Mr. Home succeeded Victor Reynolds '27, the first UPNE director.