Publishing activities at the University began practically from the moment of its foundation in 1724. Already in 1760, the first university course by S.Y. Rumovsky, "Mathematics abbreviations", was published. According to the opinion of professors S.K. Kotelnikov and N.I. Popov, students "can be trained to good effect" using this textbook.

In 1824, St. Petersburg University began publishing the "Announcement of Public Teaching of Sciences" and scientific works of University professors, and since 1834 - the first master's and doctoral dissertations. In total, over 1,500 works were published by 1917, including a large number of lecture courses, faculty notes, etc. The authors were the greatest representatives of Russian and world science: D.I. Mendeleyev, E.K. Lenz, I.M. Sechenov, A.N. Beketov, P.L. Chebyshev and other scientists.

Independent publishing activities and the publication of books by printing began in 1934, when the publishing department of the University was formed, and since 1936 - the publishing part, and already in 1939 the Publishing House of Leningrad State University was formed. During this period, the University scientists were tasked with creating new textbooks that meet modern requirements. From 1938 to 1941, 173 textbooks were prepared at the University. A.A. Ukhtomsky, V.V. Struve, B.D. Grekov, E.V. Tarle, L.V. Shcherba, N.K. Piksanov and others joined the ranks of outstanding authors during this period.

Today, the Publishing House continues the tradition and publishes high-quality educational and scientific literature in all areas of knowledge represented at St. Petersburg University, and covers almost all sections of the humanities, social and natural sciences, various areas of engineering and technology, paying special attention to the publication of textbooks and teaching aids for basic and additional educational programs.