Jargon is one of the oldest and most prestigious small presses in the United States and has published seminal works of the American literary avant-garde, including books by Charles Olson, Louis Zukofsky, Paul Metcalf, James Broughton, and Williams himself, as well as sui generis books of folk art such as White Trash Cooking.
Jargon 1 was the first work to be published by the small press, consisting of Williams' poem "Garbage Litters the Iron face of the Sun’s Child" and an etching by Ruff, made into a folded pamphlet.
[1] His predilection to champion outsiders in art and literature earned Williams the epithet "custodian of snowflakes" from literary critic Hugh Kenner.
The press has published many influential works of the literary avant-garde, including The Maximus Poems by Charles Olson and The Neugents by David M. Spear.
The most recent publication is The Black Mountain College Anthology of Poetry, produced in collaboration with the University of North Carolina Press.