Godine is an independent publisher for independently-minded readers. At Godine, quality has remained foremost. Many hardcovers are still bound in full cloth. A.
Godine is a small publishing house located in Boston, Massachusetts, producing between twenty and thirty titles per year and maintaining an active reprint program. The company is independent (a rarity these days) and its list tends to reflect the individual tastes and interests of its president and founder, David Godine. Our aim is to identify the best work and to produce it in the best way possib
le. All of our hardcover and softcover books are printed on acid-free paper. The list is deliberately eclectic and features works that many other publishers can't or won't support, books that won't necessarily become bestsellers but that still deserve publication. In a world of spin-offs and commercial "product," Godine's list stands apart by offering original fiction and non-fiction of the highest rank, rediscovered masterworks, translations of outstanding world literature, poetry, art, photography, and beautifully designed books for children. The company was founded in 1970. After receiving degrees at Dartmouth College and Harvard University, David Godine worked for Leonard Baskin, the renowned typographer and printmaker, and Harold McGrath, his master printer. David Godine opened a printing shop the following year in a deserted barn in Brookline, Massachusetts. His first books, printed on his own presses, were nearly all letterpress, limited editions printed on high-quality rag or handmade paper. Many of these early volumes are now collector's items. In 1980, the company initiated its children's program, publishing a number of books that have become classics: Mary Azarian's A Farmer's Alphabet; Dylan Thomas's holiday classic A Child's Christmas in Wales, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone; the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome; and of course, the Godine editions of Frances Hodgson Burnett's timeless works, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, which together have sold close to half a million hardcover copies. More recently, Godine has launched two new series: Imago Mundi, a line of original books devoted to photography and the graphic arts; and Verba Mundi, featuring the most notable contemporary world literature in translation. Volumes in the Imago Mundi series, which has received praise from reviewers and booksellers alike, include Jean Cocteau: The Mirror and the Mask by Julie Saul and Small Rooms & Hidden Places by Ronald W. Wohlauer. Verba Mundi has so far published works by world- renowned authors Georges Perec, Jose Donoso, Isaac Babel, and Anna Seghers, and has introduced new voices such as Sylvie Germain (whose Book of Nights was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times) and the acclaimed Swedish novelist Göran Tunström, author of The Christmas Oratorio. David R. Godine, Inc., has received numerous awards, including the Carey-Thomas award for Excellence in Publishing (1976), the Boston Globe Literary Press Award (1987), the first New England Booksellers Annual Award (1989), and the Leipzig Internationalen Buchkunst-Austellung (1989). In 1984, Bookbuilders of Boston awarded Godine the W. Dwiggins Award for maintaining standards of excellence in book production. Additionally, on July 1, 2002, John Martin, the founder and for thirty-six years the publisher of Black Sparrow Press, closed down his shop in Santa Rosa, California. After finding new homes for four of his authors—Charles Bukowski, Paul Bowles, John Fante, and Wyndham Lewis—he entrusted the rest of his backlist to a fellow publisher, David R. Godine. The agreement was simple: Godine would keep Black Sparrow's offerings available to the trade, keep the best-selling titles in print, and keep the house's spirit alive through judicious acquisitions. In short, Black Sparrow Press would be reborn—as Black Sparrow Books at David R. Godine, Publisher. "David Godine is a remarkable publisher.... He is determined to prove that the day of elegant books has not vanished. And he does prove it. Elegantly."
— The New York Times
"Godine books are not 'beautiful' in the glossy fashion of the coffee-table books that flood the market at Christmastime. They are instead flawlessly produced examples of the arts of printing and bookbinding, exquisitely understated."
— Newsweek
"Thank God some publishers, such as David R. Godine, march to a different drummer. So long as publishers copy one another . . . the trend of the moment dominates. Initiative and courage are necessary to battle mass thinking, and Godine, a small Boston publisher, has them."
— Cincinnati Enquirer
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07/07/2025
We are proud to announce that a street has been named in honor of our author, Janine Vega, in Union City, New Jersey!
This is the result of advocacy by three individuals: Vera Sirota, Communications Associate for the Hoboken Historical Museum; Danny Shot, the museum’s Poet-in-Residence; and Yetvart S. Majian, Poet-in-Residence at the Washington Park Association. Many thanks to everyone who made this happen!
Two works of poetry by Janine Vega were published by Godine under the Black Sparrow imprint, MAD DOGS OF TRIESTE and THE GREEN PIANO. Both titles are currently 50% off at godine.com!
Photo credit: Vera Sirota
06/19/2025
06/17/2025
Available now, the 2025 edition of STRING TOO SHORT TO BE SAVED by Donald Hall. This new edition features a redesigned cover and a brand new introduction written by Daniel Okrent, former student of Donald Hall.
STRING TOO SHORT TO BE SAVED is a collection of story-essays diverse in subject but united by the limitless affection the author holds for the land and the people of New England. Donald Hall tells about life on a small farm where, as a boy, he spent summers with his grandparents. Gradually the boy grows to be a young man, sees his grandparents aging, the farm become marginal, and finally, the cows sold and the barn abandoned. But these are more than nostalgic memories, for in the measured and tender prose of each episode are signs of the end of things: a childhood, perhaps a culture.
05/05/2025
Some great pics from Frenchtown Bookshop's event with Simon Van Booy
IN THE MERRIMACK VALLEY is available now from godine.com.
A journey through both family history and the fascinating and quintessentially American history of New England’s Merrimack Valley, its farmers, and the immigrant workers caught up in the industrial textile age. IN THE MERRIMACK VALLEY brings together for the first time in one volume Brox’s timeless trilogy: Here and Nowhere Else, Five Thousand Days Like This One, and Clearing Land.
05/01/2025
This best selling Godine novel was a question on Jeopardy last night. What is THE LIONESS OF BOSTON?
Available in hardcover or softcover from Godine.com, THE LIONESS OF BOSTON is a deeply evocative and imaginative portrayal of the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a daring visionary who created an inimitable legacy in American art and transformed the city of Boston itself.
04/29/2025
Head over to Godine.com to view all of our new titles for spring, as well as sale items, staff picks, and more in our Spring Collection. Use discount code GODINE25 for 20% off all regular priced items! Discount code is valid now through June 30th.
04/22/2025
Happy pub day to three new editions from Godine’s Verba Mundi series, which features English translations of classic world literature!
In THE FLOWERS OF EVIL, Pulitzer Prize winning poet and translator, Richard Howard, gives readers the true voice of Baudelaire in this masterful translation. Charles Baudelaire’s 1857 masterwork was scandalous in its day for its portrayals of s*x, same-s*x love, death, the corrupting and oppressive power of the modern city and lost innocence, Les Fleurs Du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) remains powerful and relevant for our time.
LIFE A USER’S MANUAL, a novel from Georges Perec. Structured around a single moment in time — 8:00 p.m. on June 23, 1975 — Perec's spellbinding puzzle begins in an apartment block in the XVIIth arrondissement of Paris where, chapter by chapter, room by room, like an onion being peeled, an extraordinary rich cast of characters is revealed in a series of tales that are bizarre, unlikely, moving, funny, or (sometimes) quite ordinary.
MISSING PERSON, published in France as Rue des Boutiques obscures, is both a detective mystery and a haunting meditation on the nature of the self, Patrick Modiano’s spare, hypnotic prose, superbly translated by Daniel Weissbort, draws readers into the intoxication of a rare literary experience.
Each softcover features a brand new cover design and is available now at godine.com. Look out for more titles in the Verba Mundi collection, coming this fall!
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David R. Godine, Publisher is a small publishing house located in Boston, Massachusetts, producing between twenty and thirty titles per year.
The company was founded in 1970. After receiving degrees at Dartmouth College and Harvard University, David Godine worked for Leonard Baskin, the renowned typographer and printmaker, and Harold McGrath, his master printer. In collaboration with Lance Hidy and Martha Rockwell, Godine opened a printing shop the following year in a deserted barn in Brookline, Massachusetts. The press’s first books, printed on their own presses, were nearly all letterpress, limited editions printed on high-quality rag or handmade paper. Many of these early volumes included original wood-engraving by Hidy and are now collector's items.
David R. Godine, Publisher has received numerous awards, including the Carey-Thomas award for Excellence in Publishing (1976), the Boston Globe Literary Press Award (1987), the first New England Booksellers Annual Award (1989), and the Leipzig Internationalen Buchkunst-Austellung (1989). In 1984, Bookbuilders of Boston awarded Godine the W. A. Dwiggins Award for maintaining standards of excellence in book production.
In 2002, Godine acquired much of the backlist of the Black Sparrow Press. Both Black Sparrow and Godine are now directed editorially by Joshua Bodwell.
In January 2020, David Godine retired after 50 years directing the publishing house he co-founded. Taking his place was David Allender, the current publisher of Godine.
Together, Josh and David are creating a new tradition of excellence.
"David Godine is a remarkable publisher.... He is determined to prove that the day of elegant books has not vanished. And he does prove it. Elegantly."
— The New York Times
"Godine books are not 'beautiful' in the glossy fashion of the coffee-table books that flood the market at Christmastime. They are instead flawlessly produced examples of the arts of printing and bookbinding, exquisitely understated."
— Newsweek
"Thank God some publishers, such as David R. Godine, march to a different drummer. So long as publishers copy one another . . . the trend of the moment dominates. Initiative and courage are necessary to battle mass thinking, and Godine, a small Boston publisher, has them."
— Cincinnati Enquirer
