NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 08/19/09 -- Bowne & Co., Inc. (NYSE: BNE), a global leader in shareholder and marketing communications services, today announced that Goldman, Sachs & Co., the sole underwriter of its previously announced equity offering, exercised a portion of its option to purchase additional shares on Friday, August 14, 2009, and purchased 792,273 additional shares; the transaction closed today. The shares were purchased at the public offering price of $5.96 per share and the proceeds, net of discount, were approximately $4.5 million. The Company has used the net proceeds to repay borrowings under its revolving credit facility. The option to purchase up to 1.575 million shares was granted in connection with the Company's public offering of 10.5 million shares, which priced on August 7, 2009 and closed on August 12, 2009.

A registration statement related to these shares was previously filed with and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A prospectus supplement related to the offering was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is available on the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus related to this offering may be obtained from Goldman, Sachs & Co. via telephone: (866) 471-2526; facsimile: (212) 902-9316; email: prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; or standard mail at Goldman, Sachs & Co., Prospectus Department, 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

About Bowne & Co., Inc.

Bowne & Co., Inc. (NYSE: BNE) provides shareholder and marketing communications services around the world. Dealmakers rely on Bowne to handle critical transactional communications with speed and accuracy. Compliance professionals turn to Bowne to prepare and file regulatory and shareholder communications online and in print. Investment managers and third party fund administrators count on Bowne's integrated solutions to streamline their document processes and produce high quality communications for their shareholders. Marketers look to Bowne to create and distribute customized, one-to-one communications on demand. With 2,800 employees in 50 offices around the globe, Bowne has met the ever-changing demands of its clients for more than 230 years.