University of North Carolina Press

 

The University of North Carolina Press is the oldest university press in the South and one of the oldest in the country. Founded in 1922, the Press is the creation of that same distinguished group of educators and civic leaders who were instrumental in transforming the University of North Carolina from a struggling college with a few associated professional schools into a major university.

The Press’s purpose, like that of the University, was—and remains—to advance scholarship by publishing top-notch academic work and to serve the people of the state and the region by publishing superb general interest books.

The publishing perspective of UNC Press is at once local, national, and international, extending from its office in Chapel Hill across North Carolina and around the globe. Today, the UNC Press imprint is recognized worldwide as a mark of publishing excellence, including the craft of publishing.

Thomson-Shore has been the Press’s major supplier for nearly ten years, and prints over 90% of the Press’s list.

Richard Hendel, Associate Director and Design and Production Manager at UNC Press, appreciates Thomson-Shore’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. “I think of their staff as an extension of my own. They know our books and how we like them manufactured. They are so careful that even their pressmen have caught typos that we have missed, giving us time to correct some projects before they were printed.”

The Press developed one of the strongest—and the earliest—regional publishing programs in the United States, an innovation that attracted national attention and established a pattern of regional publishing quickly adopted by other university presses. Its regional books—on natural history, plant and animal life, cooking, gardening, folklore, architecture, etc.—have long been touchstones for those in North Carolina and the Southeast.

Thomson-Shore has been the Press’s printer of choice for such standout regional titles as an acclaimed three-volume guide to the historic architecture of North Carolina—the most comprehensive treatment available for a single state—and the best selling cookbook Mama Dip’s Kitchen, with nearly 275,000 copies in print.

Hendel said, “We were particularly happy with Thomson-Shore's work on C. F. Martin and His Guitars, 1796-1873; Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon; and Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision. In addition to their splendid book work, they are as good as any printer who specializes in printing jackets and covers."

If the measure of a publishing house is the quality of its books, then the UNC Press holds an enviable record. Today, in its ninth decade, the Press has published nearly 4,000 titles and has received virtually every important book award, including the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize in history, and the Bancroft Prize.

In addition, Press books have received national and international recognition for their fine design, including the Silver Medal-Leipzig and many awards from the Association of American University Presses and the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

UNC Press books are used in colleges and universities all across the country and reach a wide range of academic and general readers. The Press has more than 1500 titles in print.

To learn more about UNC Press, please visit them on the web at www.uncpress.unc.edu.