Oxford & Cambridge

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 361, 24 May 1946, Page 6

Oxford & Cambridge

"THE Oxford University Press was founded at the end of the 15th century. Its first book, a commentary on the Apostle’s Creed attributed to St. Jerome, was dated MCCCCLXVIII, but experts are agreed that an X has been dropped, and the real date is put at 1478. Misprints have since taken a less conspicuous place in Oxford print-ing-to-day the sum of one guinea is offered by the Board of Delegates (the governing body) to anyone who can find a misprint, in text or punctuation, in any one of its innumerable editions of the Holy Bible. It is rarely claimed, but gladly paid. Oxford’s first printer was Theodoric Rood, of Cologne. The press existed only sporadically until 1585, and there are gaps in its history (which is recorded in "Some Account of the Oxford University Press, 1468-1921"). Then in 1585, the first book from the new press mentioned the Earl of Leicester as its founder. The first notable promoter of the press was Archbishop Laud, whose statutes contemplated the appointment of an "architypographus," and who secured a Royal Charter in 1636 entitling the University to print "all manner of books." However, the privilege of printing the Bible was not exercised until 1675, when an edition edited, and having the spelling revised or modernised by Dr. John Fell was produced. The Original Doctor Fell This Dr. Fell is the original of the jingle, "IT do not love thee, Dr. Fell, The reason why I cannot tell," etc. (which was actually a translation of one of Martial’s epigrams) but the rhyme seems to have little connection with so great a benefactor of letters, Fell procured from abroad some of the best type-faces obtainable, and castings from these are still used in Oxford books, He also promoted the Wolvercote paper mill, where Oxford paper is still made, and it was he who suggested to Archbishop Sheldon the building of the Theatre which still bears his name, and the printing house that was at first attached to it. The press was installed at the Sheldonian in 1669, and books printed there bore the imprint "Oxford at the Theatre." Later the Press moved to the Clarendon building, and later again to a larger building. To-day, the Oxford University Press counts among its greatest achievements

of scholarship the Oxford English Dictionary, and the Dictionary of National Biography. House of Babel The total quantity of type is estimated at a million pounds of metal, and there are about 550 founts of type, in 150 different characters-from hieroglyphic and prehistoric Minoan to modern phonetics. In between are Sanscrit, Greek, Roman, Hebrew, Arabic, Ethiopic, Coptic, Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Tamil, etc., etc. To-day, the University Press is nominally split into two parts, the Clarendon Press and the Oxford Press. . Readers may remember our interview with David Fullerton, Overseas Sales Manager for Oxford, in which the administration was described. The University owns both Presses entirely and governs them through a Board of Delegates. Humphrey Milford, publisher to the University, retired recently and has been succeeded by G. F. J. Cumberlege. 100 Years’ Start Cambridge University’s first printer was one John Siberch (his trademark is reproduced on this page) who was a friend of Erasmus. His name first appears on a title page in 1520. Thomas Fuller, who wrote a history of Cam-

bridge University in 1655, said: "True it is, it was a great while before Cambridge could find out the right knack of printing, and therefore they preferred to employ Londoners therein ---.-but one Sibert, University Printer, improved that mystery to good perfection." a Henry VIII granted a charter to the University in 1534 authorising it to print "all manner of books," so Cambridge had that liberty 100 years before Oxford. In later history of the Cambridge University Press, some early experiments in stereotyping figure largely, and in the 18th century the famour printer John Baskerville was connected with the Press, after sending a Cambridge friend a specimen of one of his types "calculated for people who begin to want

spectacles but are afraid to use them at Church. " Baskerville achieved his ambition to print a folio Bible and two prayer-books for the University, and then became "one of the Stationers and Printers" of the University, on a ten year contract. Modern achievements of the Cambridge University Press include the Cambridge Modern History, and several other co-operative historical publications, and the 1911 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica.