Founded | 1963 |
---|---|
Founder | Arnold Zohn |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | 3 Park Avenue New York, New York 10017 [1] |
Distribution | Worldwide |
Publication types | Books, historical reprints |
Owner(s) | The New York Times |
Arno Press was a Manhattan-based publishing house founded by Arnold Zohn in 1963, specializing in reprinting rare and long out-of-print materials.[2]
Zohn served 48 missions on a bomber crew during World War II, and when he returned home he entered the publishing world. He became vice-president of The New York Times, and later created his own publishing house, Arno Press, in 1963.[2] From the beginning, Zohn's business strategy was to reprint hardcover volumes of historical works and sell large orders to the then-growing number of libraries around the country.[3] In 1968, The New York Times purchased a controlling 51% of Arno Press, and in 1971 they purchased the rest.[4][5]
On September 23, 1970, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace formally presented the United Nations with a five-volume series set, Issues Before the General Assemblies of the United Nations (1946-1965), published by Arno Press.[6] Arnold Zohn attended the ceremony on behalf of Arno Press in the General Secretary's conference room. Joseph E. Johnson represented the Carnegie Endowment in his capacity as president, and Secretary General U Thant accepted the material on behalf of the United Nations.[6]
Herbert Cohen was named president of Arno Press on July 14, 1975, in an announcement by Sydney Gruson, executive vice-president of The New York Times Company.[7] He had previously served as executive vice-president of Arno Press since he joined the company in May 1972, and before that he was with Xerox Corporation's American Education Publications.[7]
The firm continued as part of Times Books in 1980, reducing its output.[5] In 1982 many of its titles were sold by Merrimack Book Service.[5] The imprint was licensed to Random House in 1984, then to the Henry Holt division of Macmillan in 2000.[5]
The Arno Press imprint was discontinued "around 1984."[5]
In their book American Woman, Italian Style: Italian Americana's Best Writings on Women, Carol Bonomo Albright and Christine Palamidessi Moore praised Arno Press for the "impressive and valuable array of materials on Italian Americans in the United States" in its thirty-nine-volume series, The Italian American Experience.[8]
Princeton English Professor Autumn Womack notes that Arno Press embarked on a "landmark republication project, The American Negro: His History and Literature" which "reissued hundreds of titles by and about Black life" between 1968-1971.[9]
Books