The Harvard University Press has granted Atheneum publishers of New York first option on the paperback reprint rights for all its new titles. Under the arrangement, a rarity in the publishing industry, the University Press expects to achieve greater continuity in its reprints.

During the last seven years about 200 HU Press titles have been reprinted as paperbacks on the basis of individual arrangements with many different publishers. Although the new arrangement does not give Athe exclusive rights. Mark Saxton, promotion manager for the HU Press, said it will probably become the principal paperback publisher of HU Press titles.

The first four HU Press titles to be printed by Atheneum will come out in September. About 15 more are scheduled to appear during 1963.

The September foursome includes Dean Acheson's Power and Diplomacy,