Cornell University Press was established in 1869, giving it the distinction of being the first university press to be established in the United States, although it was inactive for several decades between 1890 and 1930. From that beginning, the Press has grown to be a major scholarly publisher, offering 120 new titles a year in many disciplines, including anthropology, art history, Asian studies, classics, cultural studies, history, literary criticism and theory, medieval studies, New York City and State, philosophy, politics and international relations, security studies, Slavic and Eurasian studies, sociology, and urban studies. Our many books in the life sciences and natural history, including field guides, are published under the Comstock Publishing Associates imprint, and a distinguished list of books in labor and employment relations, the health care professions, and human resources is offered under our ILR Press imprint. Since early 1993, the acquisitions, editorial, production, and marketing departments of the Press have been located in Sage House, where the staff keeps company with the house's carved bats and stained-glass birds. Sage House was built in the 1880s by Henry Williams Sage, then chairman of the University's Board of Trustees, and was designed by William Henry Miller, the architect later responsible for many important buildings on the Cornell campus. Contractor and chief mason were master craftsmen who had come to Ithaca from England, bringing old-world skills to the construction of the early campus. The Press's financial department—as well as CUP Services, which handles customer service and distribution not only for the Press but also for other publishers—is located at our Cascadilla Street offices in downtown Ithaca.