The Catholic University of America Press has exceeded it’s “best-ever” year of book sales with two full months left in the fiscal year. The previous record was set in 2018. As of Feb. 18, this year’s sales are already 9 percent higher than last year’s.
"In spite of the pandemic, which has hit the publishing industry hard, the books we publish have maintained their strong appeal in these difficult times due to our commitment to publish important and abiding works,” says Trevor Lipscombe, director of the Press. The University press publishes works of scholarship, textbooks that help train the next generation of scholars, and books of broad appeal for a general audience.
“This level of sales is a remarkable achievement, and thanks are owed to all those involved in our book-publishing process -- from our work-study students to the faculty members on our editorial committee and, above all, to the Press staff,” Lipscombe says.
Although most publishers saw book sales plummet last February and struggle since, book sales for the Catholic University Press “have been strong all around.” Remaining particularly popular have been Renewing Our Hope by Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and alumnus of Catholic University, and the late Papal Latinist Reginald Foster’s Ossium Carnes Multae e Marci Tullii Ciceronis epistulis: The Bones' Meats Abundant from the epistles of Marcus Tullius Cicero.
The Press also recently released its Spring/Summer 2021 Catalog. Among the new titles is the third edition of A Catechism for Business by Andrew Abela, dean of the Busch School of Business, and Joseph Capizzi, director of the Institute for Human Ecology and professor of moral theology. The book “compiles a wide range of Church teachings in an easily readable format to answer questions about business life, to explore profound questions about faith and business,” writes Trevor Lipscombe, director of the Press.
Also featured is the essay collection Mystery and Intelligibility edited by collegiate associate professor of philosophy Jeffrey Dirk Wilson. It features an essay by his colleague Professor Tim Noone. The Black Catholic Studies Reader, is edited by CatholicU alumnus Rev. David Endres and includes an essay from Servant of God alumna Sister Thea Bowman.
The Catholic University of America Press publishes scholarly works and serious studies of general interest in the humanities and social sciences, namely in history (ecclesiastical and secular), literature and languages, philosophy, political theory, and theology. Interdisciplinary emphases are found in patristics and medieval studies.
An online copy of the new catalog is available at cuapress.org. To receive a print version, call 202-319-5052.