Celebrating Forty Years of “a Light in the Publishing World”
Over its first forty years, Broadview Press has developed a strong reputation in universities and colleges worldwide as an academic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences. “Broadview’s work … makes for some of the most enriching reading experiences available, both in and out of the classroom,” writes Emily Friedman of Auburn University. “Broadview editions are models of helpful, scrupulous editing and responsible production,” writes Erik Gray of Columbia University. In the Washington Post, a reviewer has written that the Broadview Editions series is one “in which the editing is something of an art form.” (See below for more comments on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary.)
Among the general public, though, Broadview has continued to fly largely below the radar. Even in Canada (where the company is based), many who are familiar with various boutique-size literary book publishers know nothing of Broadview, a company that has published well over 1,000 titles, has over 30 employees, and routinely posts annual sales of over $4 million. The company has remained little-known among general readers precisely because its marketing focuses on selling not to the general public but to the post-secondary course text market. That’s not to say that many of its books can’t appeal to general readers—many can and do. But early on the company found it uneconomic to try to compete effectively on the shelves of Trade chain bookstores against the likes of Penguin Random House—whereas it can and does hold its own competing against Norton, Oxford University Press, and other much larger publishers in the university and college market for academic books.
Broadview was founded in 1985 in Peterborough, Ontario by Don LePan, who had previously managed the college department of the Canadian branch of OUP. Now 71, LePan remains Broadview’s CEO, and the company’s largest location remains its office and warehouse in Peterborough. But Broadview now has five offices spread across the country. Its sales and marketing efforts (led by Christine Handley, VP for Sales and Distribution) are conducted largely out of its Guelph office, while editorial acquisitions (directed by Marjorie Mather, VP for Editorial and Production) are largely through its Calgary office—where Stephen Latta, Broadview’s president since 2023, also works.
The company has been profitable in most recent years, but Broadview’s first four decades have not been without their rough spots. Perhaps most notably, Broadview experienced something of a financial crisis in 2007-08, as the Canadian dollar soared above par with the American dollar. (Close to two-thirds of Broadview’s sales are to export markets, meaning that a high Canadian dollar puts downward pressure on the company’s sales revenue). That crisis ended only when the University of Toronto Press purchased Broadview’s social science lists; Michael Harrison, who had played a key role in developing those lists, and who had taken over from LePan in the role of president, led a group of six Broadviewers joining UTP to start a college text division there. (Broadview then became for a period of several years a humanities-only publisher.)
For much of the past fifteen years the company was led by Leslie Dema; as President from 2014 to 2023, she led the company through a period of unprecedented change in the industry. Under her leadership the company expanded its sales and its reputation—not only as a publisher of print books, but also as a publisher well able to hold its own in the ever-shifting landscape of electronic publishing. The Broadview name, already highly respected among Canadian academics, came to be just as respected in the US and overseas; in a typical English or Philosophy department in the United States or Britain, Broadview is often the only Canadian book publisher that professors are aware of.
Broadview Press Ltd, the corporate ancestor of today’s Broadview Press Inc., was incorporated September 25, 1985.
Comments on the Occasion of Broadview’s 40th:
“The depth and range of Broadview’s list never fails to astonish me. There’s so much imagination in the way the press unearths the past, so many texts I would never have known without the rich and careful contextualization that its editorial format provides. Congratulations on this anniversary!”
—Michael Gorra, Smith College
“Thanks to Broadview for being such a light in the publishing world.”
—Anahid Nersessian, UCLA
“I have had many reasons to be grateful to Broadview over the years, not the least of which are the wonderful editions of Marlowe’s plays. They are edited to the highest standards and are beautifully produced. Bravo, and thank you.”
—Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University
“It’s more important than ever to celebrate and support irreplaceable Canadian institutions like Broadview Press—a beacon in publishing in the humanities and social sciences, and a model of excellence and resiliency in independent academic publishing.”
—Sue Donaldson & Will Kymlicka, Queen’s University
“Broadview has taken the broad view consistently – I cannot think of another publisher that has reintroduced more important but sidelined works back into general vision. But this is not all: the Broadview series policy of supplying supporting texts in appendices means puts these finely produced editions a step above what we get from lesser publishers. Long may Broadview continue.”
— William Poole, New College, University of Oxford
“Broadview Press has been a visionary publisher and the books have been transformative in the field of Victorian Studies. I am proud to have an edition with Broadview—here’s to the next forty!!!”
—Pamela K. Gilbert, Albert Brick Professor of English, University of Florida
“Congratulations! It is hard to believe that Broadview Press is already celebrating 40 years. What an amazing publishing venture—one that has fundamentally changed the classroom for so many faculty and students. … As a young scholar I was delighted to have the opportunity to edit for the press. … It is hard to imagine the path I would have taken as teacher and scholar without Broadview. Here’s to forty more years.”
—Claire Grogan, Vice-President Academic, Vancouver Island University
“Happy Birthday, Broadview Press! For forty years, you’ve been putting the humanity back in textbook publishing. My students and I continue to enjoy the care and dedication you bring to producing books that combine editorial rigor and accessibility in equal and complementary ways. Your acquisitions and editorial teams have transformed teaching in my field of medieval and early modern literature. Here’s wishing you all the best for the next forty years!”
—Mike Kuczynski, Pierce Butler Endowed Professor of English, Tulane University
“On the occasion of Broadview’s 40th anniversary, I raise a glass to celebrate its remarkable record of publishing outstanding, accessible, and innovative editions. Broadview is always my first choice in setting teaching texts, and I look forward to another successful 40 years of blazing success in supporting the humanities.”
—Alison Chapman, University of Victoria
Broadview Press Board of Directors:
Suzanne Bailey (Professor of English Literature, Trent University)
David Chariandy (Professor of English, University of Toronto)
Leslie Dema (former President, Broadview Press)
Christine Handley (Vice President of Sales & Distribution, Broadview Press)
Stephen Latta (President, Broadview Press)
Don LePan (Chair) (CEO and Company Founder, Broadview Press)
Marjorie Mather (Vice President of Editorial & Production, Broadview Press)
Linda McCollum (former Director of the University of Alberta Press)
Ian Rhind (former President & CEO, Wolters Kluwer Audit, Risk & Compliance)
Alexander Sager (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Portland State University)
Andrea Sullivan-Clarke (Associate Professor of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine, Indiana University Bloomington)
On leave: Amanda Claybaugh (Professor of English, and Dean of Undergraduate Education at Harvard University)