The Cornell East Asia Series (CEAS), the scholarly press of the East Asia Program, has joined Cornell University Press as a new imprint.

The partnership, effective July 1, will raise the visibility of scholarship in the East Asia Series, said Pedro Erber, director of the East Asia Program and associate professor of Romance studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The series, housed in the East Asia Program since its inception in 1973, is an internationally known and award-winning scholarly press publishing scholarship by authors worldwide.

CEAS titles have included “Stateless Subjects: Chinese Martial Arts Literature and Postcolonial History,” “Deconstructing Nationality,” “Tosaka Jun: A Critical Reader,” “Rat Fire: Korean Stories from the Japanese Empire” and “What the Doctor Overheard: Dr. Leopold Müller’s Account of Music in Early Meiji Japan,” winner of the Society of Ethnomusicology’s 2018 Bruno Nettl Prize.

Founded by faculty who recognized the need to make specialized research widely available, CEAS has gained a reputation for quality scholarship in several fields in East Asia studies. It has published 200 volumes to date, and two dozen titles are available digitally for free from Cornell University Library.

“This exciting merger will bring to our faculty and authors the publishing expertise of Cornell University Press and will give due recognition to the high-quality work of CEAS,” Erber said.

As a distinguished academic publisher, he added, Cornell University Press will offer East Asia Series authors a greater platform and bring their scholarship and the unique research of CEAS into conversation with a variety of fields and disciplines.

“This collaboration brings together CEAS’s distinguished list of scholarly works and translations of poetry and fiction with Cornell University Press’ innovative approaches to publishing, and will lead to new and exciting opportunities for both organizations,” said Mahinder Kingra, CUP editor-in-chief.

Cornell University Press and Northern Illinois University Press (NIUP) have also announced a new collaborative imprint effective July 1. NIUP joins the East Asia Series and established CUP imprints such as Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) Press, Southeast Asian Studies Publications, Comstock Publishing and Three Hills.

With more than 600 titles in print, NIUP publishes approximately 20 titles a year in its Slavic, Orthodox Christian and Southeast Asian series, along with titles in other subject areas. NIUP will retain an acquisitions editor and a faculty press board for its titles, and CUP will handle editing, production, design, marketing, distribution and sales.

“This collaboration provides a sustainable model for university press scholarship going forward,” said Gerald Beasley, the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian. “CUP is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and through this arrangement will further strengthen its leadership position in the advancement of reliable knowledge."