Ardis Publishing
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | January 1, 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States |
| Founder | Carl R. Proffer, Ellendea C. Proffer |
| Fate | English-language titles and rights transferred to The Overlook Press in 2002 |
| Headquarters | Ann Arbor , United States |
| Products | Russian literature books, scholarly materials, periodical Russian Literature Triquarterly |
Ardis Publishing—known as Ardis Publishers until 2002—was established in 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, by academics Carl R. Proffer and Ellendea C. Proffer. It stood as the sole publishing firm outside Russia devoted exclusively to Russian literature in both English and Russian languages. The company’s mission was to bring to light the "lost library" of twentieth-century Russian works that had been suppressed under Soviet censorship, featuring authors such as Mikhail Bulgakov, Osip Mandelstam, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Vladimir Nabokov. Additionally, Ardis sought to present modern Soviet authors to readers in the West. Over its operation, Ardis released approximately 400 titles, with an almost equal division between English and Russian editions.
Ardis became notable for issuing texts prohibited within the Soviet Union prior to the era of Glasnost. Among the prominent Russian-language writers they published were Nabokov, Sasha Sokolov, Joseph Brodsky, Andrei Bitov, Fazil Iskander, and Vasily Aksyonov. These publications were frequently covertly transported back into the USSR. Beyond literary works, Ardis also produced scholarly materials and the periodical Russian Literature Triquarterly. Carl Proffer played a pivotal role in facilitating Joseph Brodsky’s emigration to the United States and securing his academic appointment at the University of Michigan.
In terms of English-language publications, Ardis issued significant editions including Dostoevsky's complete correspondence, major prose collections by Platonov, Remizov, Mandelstam, and Tsvetaeva, plus the first annotated English version of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. Their catalog also encompassed historical studies on eighteenth-century literature along with extensive anthologies of Romantic-era writings. The Proffers partnered with Indiana University Press for Bulgakov’s dramatic works (with rights now retained by Ellendea Proffer). Their diverse catalog ranged from Nabokov’s translation of A Hero of Our Time to Razgon’s memoirs about camp experiences.
Carl Proffer, who was a professor at the University of Michigan, passed away in 1984 at age 46. Following his death, Ellendea Proffer continued overseeing the publishing house and was honored with a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989.
The name "Ardis" is derived from Nabokov’s novel Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle.
In 2002, certain English-language titles along with associated rights were transferred to The Overlook Press, which has since reissued select works from Ardis’s backlist under the Ardis imprint. Overlook Press specializes in English translations of Russian literature and has reprinted 26 original titles from Ardis.
The archival collection of Ardis Publishers is preserved within the Special Collections Library at the University of Michigan.