YUP is one of the oldest and largest American university presses, began publishing from a ‘cubbyhole-sized’ office in Manhattan. All natural history’s multiple strands are represented in the more than 450 new books YUP publishes each year, with a diverse selection of specialist and general interest wildlife and environment titles in its catalogue. Among the many titles in YUP’s back-catalogue is Roderick Frazier Nash’s Wilderness and the American Mind, a classic study of changing attitudes to wilderness during American history, first published in 1967, which has been called the ‘Book of Genesis for environmentalists’.
From 1918 to 1948 all its books were designed under the watchful eye of craftsman-printer Carl Purington Rollins, credited with setting the design standard for university press books throughout the United States. Rollins insisted on attention to detail and good typefaces - ‘good typefaces cost no more to set up than poor ones,’ was one comment. Many of his books were lauded for their design by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
