Medieval and Renaissance Studies at University of Toronto Press

upweek-logo-2013Sales and Marketing Manager Brian MacDonald blogs as a part of the AAUP’s University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out today’s tour stops at MIT Press, Texas A&M University Press, University of Georgia Press, University of Pennsylvania Press, Duke University Press, and Wilfrid Laurier University Press. A complete blog tour schedule can be found here.

University of Toronto Press (UTP) has a long and acclaimed commitment to publishing in the areas of both Medieval and Renaissance Studies, dating back several decades. UTP publishes many noteworthy series in these areas, attends all the major annual conferences in these subject areas, and our books have received numerous awards for their scholarship.

In 1968 under the direction of the late Ron Schoeffel, UTP began publishing The Collected Works of Erasmus, one of its most significant projects to date. The aim of this series is to make available an accurate, readable English text of Erasmus’s correspondence and his other principal writings in an edition of 89 volumes. Erasmus was one of the architects of modern thought, and his works reflect a vast range of interests including history, theology, the classics, social theory, education, political theory, literature, and the history of ideas. His letters remain the single most important source for the intellectual history of the Renaissance and the Reformation. In the words of Lisa Jardine: “The Toronto Erasmus project is a magnificent achievement, one of the scholarly triumphs of our time.”

In 1978 University of Toronto Press signed an agreement with the Medieval Academy of America to publish the Medieval Academy of America Reprints for Teaching (MART) series. Today, these books continue to be offered to medieval scholars and students by UTP.

In 1990 The Spenser Encyclopedia was published. Since its appearance, The Spenser Encyclopedia has become the reference book for scholarship on Edmund Spenser (1552-99), offering a detailed, literary guide to his life, works, and influence. Comprehensive in scope and international in outlook, the encyclopedia contains some 700 entries by 422 contributors in 20 countries. William C. Johnson in The Sixteenth Century Journal wrote, “The editors and contributors have produced a monumental work, which in scope and composition is admirably well conceived and methodologically superior to all other such reference works on literary figures.”

Bartlett_short history of the italian renaissanceMore recently, in 2008 University of Toronto Press acquired Broadview Press’s history and social science lists, adding many Medieval Studies texts for the classroom to UTP’s publishing program. Now operating as a division of the Press, UTP Higher Education focuses on publishing materials for course use – such as Barbara H. Rosenwein’s bestselling text A Short History of the Middle Ages or Paul Edward Dutton’s popular series, Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures. The division also recently added A Short History of the Italian Renaissance by Kenneth R. Bartlett to its list, marking its entrance into Renaissance Studies.

In addition to the Medieval Academy Reprint for Teaching (MART) series, other series in Medieval and Renaissance Studies published by University of Toronto Press include:

Medieval Academy Books (established by the Medieval Academy of America in 1928)
Renaissance Society of America Reprints Texts
Erasmus Studies Series
Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library Series
UCLA Clark Memorial Library Series
Toronto Italian Studies
Toronto Iberic Series
University of Toronto Romance Series
Toronto Anglo-Saxon Series (TASS)
Toronto Old Norse-Icelandic Series (TONIS)
Toronto Old English Studies
Toronto Studies in Medieval Law Series
Rethinking the Middle Ages Series
Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures Series
Companions to Medieval Studies Series

UTP also publishes the historical database Lexicons of Early Modern English (LEME), offering scholars unprecedented access to early books and manuscripts documenting the growth and development of the English language. With more than 581,000 word-entries from 175 dictionaries, glossaries, linguistic treatises, encyclopedias, and other lexical works, LEME sets the standard for modern linguistic research on the English language.

Suzanne Rancourt, Executive Editor of the Scholarly Publishing Division of University of Toronto Press, is the acquiring editor for Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, and Erasmus Studies. A member of UTP since 1987, Suzanne is very well known in her field and speaks regularly at the International Congress of Medieval Studies on the subject of publishing. Natalie Fingerhut, History Editor of the Higher Education Division of University of Toronto Press, is the acquiring editor for all medieval history course materials.

In addition to the International Congress of Medieval Studies held annually in Kalamazoo, Michigan, UTP also has a presence at the Medieval Academy of America annual meeting, the Renaissance Studies Association annual meeting, and the International Medieval Congress held in Leeds, United Kingdom.

To learn more about UTP’s books in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, pick up our Classics, Medieval, and Renaissance Books catalogue at any of the conferences listed above or download it directly from our website.

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