Dundee University’s academic publishing arm has been snapped up by capital rivals for an undisclosed sum.
Edinburgh University Press is to take over Dundee University Press with immediate effect after sealing a deal for the law and history specialist.
EUP chief executive Timothy Wright hailed the “excellent and exciting development” and said he had been in discussions with loss-making DUP “for a while”.
“The Dundee University Press list complements our own and will underpin our commissioning, particularly in the area of law,” he said of the acquisition.
“They also have a focused and excellent list in Scottish history which will sit well with our books in this field. There are numerous opportunities for us to grow the list, particularly in the textbook and digital areas.”
The asset purchase agreement will see EUP take on DUP’s current stock and business, with all newly-printed titles now to be published under the Edinburgh name.
Recent Dundee titles have included Whaleback City, an anthology of poetry co-edited by the city’s first Makar, Bill Herbert, a biography of social reformer Mary Lily Walker by Eddie Small, and Scotland’s Future, a major study into the post-2014 governance of Scotland, which includes contributions from former cabinet secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell.
The backlist also features Burns anthology For A’ That, published in 2009 to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland’s national poet and featuring a string of exclusive offerings from writers including Booker Prize winner DBC Pierre.
Mr Wright said the deal would allow DUP authors to access international markets through EUP’s global partnerships and e-publication channels an option not currently available at the smaller-scale Dundee operation.
Ex-pat and ancestral Scots in North America could prove a particular focus, he added, with Scottish and local history output to be enhanced.
Mr Wright gave an assurance that the EUP takeover would “absolutely enhance”, rather than diminish, the number of Dundee-focused titles published. “We don’t intend to abandon Dundee at all, and will be growing that output,” he said.
DUP was launched in 2004, in partnership with Edinburgh-based publisher Birlinn and with a particular focus on law and energy. Other specialisms now include science, politics and history.
But despite the commercial tie-up, the Press has sustained continued losses. In February, it reported a reverse of just less than £25,000 for the year to July 2012 and revealed how its two staff had both been served with redundancy notices.
At the time, it said it retained the support of Dundee University but had been forced to reduce costs. Printing and publishing operations would continue using freelance staff on a project basis, a spokesman added.
In contrast, EUP reported book and journal revenues of £2.37m for the year to the end of July, up 7% on the previous year. Profits fell to £197,000, reflecting continued investment in editorial and marketing.
It has 31 staff, and is about to move from its present home at Edinburgh University’s George Square arts and humanities campus to larger premises in the Holyrood area of the capital.
DUP director Professor Christopher Whatley, who has had titles published by both presses, said he regretted the disappearance of a company which “had made great strides in a short space of time”.
However, the Dundee University vice-principal added: “It is clearly in the interests of our authors that they can now benefit from the greater market reach that EUP has.”
He said: “EUP’s reputation is another powerful attraction for this move. The scale of EUP’s operation is such that the areas in which DUP has created a presence can grow much faster than DUP a much smaller company was capable of.”