Private company

Yale University Press

Logo: AniRaptor2001 at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons³

Publishing arm of Yale University

Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. As of 2002, Yale University Press published approximately 300 new hardcover and 150 new paperback books annually and had a backlist of about 5,000 books in print.² It is headquartered in New Haven.¹ Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1908Founded¹

Industrypublishing¹
HeadquartersNew Haven¹
Websiteyalebooks.yale.edu

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The story

Founded by George Parmly Day in 1908.¹

History

Yale University Press was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and his brother Clarence Day. It issued its first book, The Beginnings of Gospel Story by Benjamin Wisner Bacon, in 1909, and moved from a small office in New York City to New Haven in 1910. From 1918 to 1948, its books were designed under the printer Carl Purington Rollins. Among the press's early series were The Chronicles of America, The Yale Shakespeare (1918–1929) and the Yale Series of Younger Poets, launched in 1919.

The Lamar Series in Western History

The Lamar Series in Western History (formerly the Yale Western Americana series) was established in 1962 to publish works that enhance the understanding of human affairs in the American West and contribute to a wider understanding of why the West matters in the political, social, and cultural life of America.

From Wikipedia’s article on Yale University Press, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Leadership

Who has led Yale University Press, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

FounderGeorge Parmly Day¹
ChairGeorge Parmly Day¹

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

Yale University since 1961

From Wikidata.¹

Controversies and legal

Controversies

Mises' Human Action

In 1963, the Press published a revised edition of Ludwig von Mises's Human Action. In the May 5, 1964 issue of National Review, Henry Hazlitt wrote the story "Mangling a Masterpiece", accusing Yale University Press of intentionally typesetting the new edition in an amateurish fashion, due to the Press's differing ideological beliefs.

Muhammad cartoons

In August 2009, officials at the Press ignited a controversy when they decided to expunge reproductions of the cartoons involved in the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, along with all other images of Muhammad, from a scholarly book entitled The Cartoons that Shook the World, by professor Jytte Klausen.

Internet Archive lawsuit

Yale University Press joined The Association of American Publishers trade organization in the Hachette v. Internet Archive lawsuit which resulted in the removal of access to over 500,000 books from global readers.