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.
Since its inception in 1919, the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition has published the first collection of poetry by new poets. The first winner was Howard Buck.
Yale Drama Series
Yale University Press and Yale Repertory Theatre jointly sponsor the Yale Drama Series, a playwriting competition. The winner of the annual competition is awarded the David C. Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of his/her manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Yale Rep. The Yale Drama Series and David C. Horn Prize are funded by the David Charles Horn Foundation.
Anchor Yale Bible Series
In 2007, Yale University Press acquired the Anchor Bible Series, a collection of more than 115 volumes of biblical scholarship, from the Doubleday Publishing Group. New and backlist titles are now published under the Anchor Yale Bible Series name.
Future of American Democracy Series
Yale University Press is publishing the Future of American Democracy Series, which "aims to examine, sustain, and renew the historic vision of American democracy in a series of books by some of America's foremost thinkers", in partnership with the Future of American Democracy Foundation.
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.
Terry Lectures Series
The Dwight H. Terry Lectureship was established in 1905 to encourage the consideration of religion in the context of modern science, psychology, and philosophy. Many of the lectures, which are hosted by Yale University, have been edited into book form by the Yale University Press.
Yale Nota Bene
On September 22, 2000, Yale University Press announced a new Yale Nota Bene imprint that would "feature reprints of best-selling and classic Yale Press titles encompassing works of history, religion, science, current affairs, reference and biography, in addition to fiction, poetry and drama."
Other series
Other Yale University Press series include:
The Annotated Shakespeare, begun in 2003, presenting individual plays with on-page annotations by Burton Raffel.
Ancient Lives, short biographies of figures from the ancient world.
Black Lives, short biographies of individuals of African descent.
Jewish Lives, launched in 2010 with the Leon D. Black Foundation, publishing biographies of Jewish figures.
The Margellos World Republic of Letters, devoted to literature in translation.
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, a scholarly edition of Franklin's writings sponsored jointly with the American Philosophical Society.
The Works of Jonathan Edwards, a scholarly edition completed in 26 volumes.
The press also awards the biennial Yale Nonfiction Book Prize, sponsored with The Yale Review, for a book-length work of nonfiction by a writer who has not previously published one.
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.
