J. P. Zenger Books publishes books that deserve to exist.

We’re a small, independent imprint dedicated to bringing forward works that might otherwise go unheard—ideas that challenge, stories that resonate, voices that endure. Our focus is simple: publish books that matter, with the care and conviction they deserve.

J. P. Zenger Books takes its name from John Peter Zenger, the New York printer whose 1735 acquittal for seditious libel became a foundational moment for freedom of the press. Zenger published The New York Weekly Journal, which challenged the abuses of colonial power, and his trial helped establish the principle that truth is a defense against libel. We chose the name in tribute to a publisher who believed that ideas matter, power should be questioned, and the written word can help expand the boundaries of democratic life.

We shall not understand what a book is, and why a book has the value many persons have, and is even less replaceable than a person, if we forget how important to it is its body, the building that has been built to hold its lines of language safely together through many adventures and a long time. Words on a screen have visual qualities, to be sure, and these darkly limn their shape, but they have no materiality, they are only shadows, and when the light shifts they’ll be gone. Off the screen they do not exist as words. They do not wait to be reseen, reread; they only wait to be remade, relit.

from “Gutenberg’s Triumph: An Essay in Defense of the Book” by William H. Gass

We’d love to hear from you; drop us a line at info@jpzengerbooks.com.

Founded by Nicco Mele and Abby Rapoport in 2025