NYU Press was founded in 1916 by Elmer Ellsworth Brown, then Chancellor of the University. The Press was, in his words, created to “publish contributions to higher learning by eminent scholars.”

Making common cause with the best and the brightest, the great and the good, NYU Press aspires to nothing less than the transformation of the intellectual and cultural landscape. Infused with the conviction that the ideas of the academy matter, they foster knowledge that resonates within and beyond the walls of the university. If the university is the public square for intellectual debate, NYU Press is its soapbox, offering original thinkers a forum for the written word. NYU Press authors think, teach, and contend; NYU Press crafts, publishes, and disseminates. While the Press’s mandate has evolved over the decades, adjusting to changes in the academy and in the publishing world, Elmer Ellsworth Brown’s words ring true to this day.