The story
20th century
Princeton University Press was founded in 1905 by Whitney Darrow, a recent Princeton graduate. Darrow received initial funding for the press from Charles Scribner II, a Princeton trustee and partner in the New York publishing house Charles Scribner's Sons. Beginning as a small, for-profit printer, Princeton University Press was reincorporated as a nonprofit in 1910 and gradually developed into a full-fledged book publisher. In 1912, the press published its first book, a new edition of Lectures on Moral Philosophy by John Witherspoon.
Early notable publications included The Meaning of Relativity (1922) by Albert Einstein — his first book published in the United States — and Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944) by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, which helped establish the field of game theory.
In 1950, the press presented the first volume of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at a Library of Congress ceremony attended by President Harry S. Truman. In 1969, Paul Mellon donated the Bollingen Series to the press, adding a backlist that included The I Ching, or Book of Changes and The Collected Works of C. G. Jung.
In 1999, the press opened a European office in Woodstock, England, near Oxford.
21st century
In 2012, Princeton University Press (PUP) launched the Princeton Legacy Library, using print-on-demand technology to return more than 2,700 out-of-print titles to availability. In 2014, it created the Digital Einstein Papers, a public platform providing free access to The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein--providing the first comprehensive collection and English translation of Einstein's written legacy.
Christie Henry became the press's director in 2017, the first woman to hold the position. That same year, the press opened a Beijing office, becoming the first university press to do so.
In 2018, the press launched Princeton Audio, an in-house audio imprint that has since released more than 200 audiobooks, including Karl Marx's Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1. In 2022, PUP expanded the program's reach with the debut of an audiobook app and direct-to-consumer website sales, supported through a partnership with Glassboxx.
In 2018 the press also launched a strategic initiative to diversify publishing. As part of a commitment to highlight voices and topics that have been historically underrecognized in the academy, the press launched a global equity grant program in 2020 to support authors under contract with resources to help with manuscript development; the majority of grants awarded in this program have been to assist authors with child and family care. In 2021 the press initiated Book Proposal Development Grants. Grantees receive coaching from partner book coaches and Princeton University Press editors, and subsequent consideration for publication. In 2020, the press launched a Publishing Fellowship, aimed at increasing diversity across the publishing industry. The program offers full-time, salaried positions that provide immersive training in nonfiction publishing, as well as mentoring and career coaching.
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Princeton University Press joined The Association of American Publishers trade organization in the Hachette v. Internet Archive lawsuit in 2020 over concerns that the archive facilitated copyright infringement of their books. The suit resulted in the removal of access to over 500,000 books from global readers.
In 2021, the press established PUP Speaks, an in-house speakers' bureau representing select authors for paid speaking events. In 2021 the press also moved its UK office to Oxford, acquiring 99 Banbury Road and increasing space for the further growth of PUP Europe.
From its Beijing office, the press developed a business representing other publishers' titles in China. The University of Chicago Press became a client in 2022, followed by W. W. Norton & Company in 2025 and Johns Hopkins University Press in 2026.
In 2023, Princeton University Press entered a publishing partnership with Editorial Planeta US to support simultaneous publication of general interest titles in English and in Spanish. The first title in the partnership was Puerto Rico: A National History by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo. Meléndez-Badillo collaborated with Bad Bunny, writing short historical narratives to accompany the performer's album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
In 2025, Princeton University Press was criticized when several members of its staff appeared in Chinese state media on an officially-sanctioned tour of sites in Xinjiang.
In 2025, the press acquired Island Press, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit publisher that focuses on environmental topics including conservation, food systems, and urban planning. Island Press became a Princeton University Press imprint on January 1, 2026.
From Wikipedia’s article on Princeton University Press, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4