In 1971 James Hogg founded the University of Salzburg Press, publishing books of literary criticism in the fields of Jacobean Drama, Romantic Studies, Elizabethan & Jacobean Studies, and Poetic Drama & Poetic Theory. In the early 1980's he started to publish collections of poetry, i.e. substantial selections from, and criticial evaluations of, the Vitalist Poets William Oxley, Peter Russell, and Anthony Johnson. He selected British poets who had not had a more substantial collection published and urgently deserved one. These books varied from a minimum of 200 pages to Desmond O'Grady's mammoth collection of translations, versions, and imitations, entitled Trawling Tradition, running to 615 pages. The volumes usually included an introduction to the poet's work by the poet him/herself and an independent critic's assessment. Together with Wolfgang Görtschacher, who joined the masthead of University of Salzburg Press in 1996, Hogg published volumes of 'Selected Poetry' and collections of poetry by poets of such catholic diversity as Fred Beake, Chris Bendon, Alison Bielski, Ian Caws, Anthony Cooney, Jon Corelis, Michael Croshaw, Clive Faust, Geoffrey Godbert, David H. W. Grubb, John Gurney, Charles Hadfield, Brian Merrikin Hill, Jenny Johnson, Dylan Jones, James Kirkup, Yann Lovelock, Edward Lowbury, Alexis Lykiard, Rupert Loydell, Neal Mason, Shaun McCarthy, David Miller, John Mingay, Eric Mottram, Andrea Moorhead, Richard O'Connell, Ewald Osers, Brian Louis Pearce, Dachine Rainer, Eric Ratcliffe, Wendy Saloman, Mike Shields, Steve Sneyd, Steve Short, Derek Stanford, Michael Wright, among others.

Hogg and Görtschacher's above-average interest in the genre of the long poem resulted in the publication of William Oxley's A Map of Time, The Playboy, and Collected Longer Poems, and Edward Boaden Thomas's In a Derbyshire Garden and Poets' Tracks All England Over. The University of Salzburg Press also featured translations of outstanding quality by Brian Merrikin Hill (of Saint-Pol-Roux), Richard O'Connell's Simulations: Selected Translations, Stanley Mason's A German Treasury (4 vols), Stevie Krayer's The Book of Hours (Rilke), and O'Grady's encyclopedic volume Trawling Tradition.

Over the years Hogg and Görtschacher established vital cooperations with little magazine and small press editors which culminated in the publication of substantial selections from Rupert Loydell's Stride Magazine and Fred Beake's The Poet's Voice. Hogg's interest in the media of the little magazines and small presses as the most appropriate publication channels for poetry led to the first substantial study of the British scene, Little Magazine Profiles: The Little Magazines in Great Britain 1939-1993, by Wolfgang Görtschacher.

In 1999 Görtschacher re-launched the press as Poetry Salzburg. Much has changed – corporate design, corporate identity, new logo, quality of production, website (due to the enthusiasm and expertise of the editorial assistant, Andreas Schachermayr) – while the catholicity has remained from the old press. Poetry Salzburg publishes 6-8 books per year: poetry, literary criticism, anthologies, annotated bibliographies, and plays.