_University Gazette_ (recording the official Acts and Agenda of the
University), the annual _Calendar_ (primarily a list of the members
of the University), the _Statuta Universitatis_ and the _Examination
Statutes_ (both published every year), and a number of smaller
pamphlets &c. giving special information. The numerous and far-reaching
changes, made necessary by the war and the fruits of the war, have
hitherto precluded the republication of the useful and popular _Oxford
University Handbook_, last published in 1915. Meanwhile, the pamphlet
of General_ Information_ (on admission, residence, scholarships, and
some examinations) will be found valuable by those, at home and abroad,
who wish to form a general conception of the opportunities afforded to
students and the requirements which they must fulfil.
There are many other official books, both utilitarian and antiquarian.
Employers and others have often occasion to inquire what places a member
of the University obtained in the class-lists. The information, not
always available elsewhere, is given, from the beginning to 1900, in
the _Historical Register of the University_, and for the years 1901-20,
in the _Supplement_ to that work recently published. Benefactors and
others interested in University Finance are directed to the _Abstract of
the Accounts of the University and Colleges_ published annually. Other
publications of local usefulness include the _Oxford University Pocket
Diary_ for the academical year, and the terminal list of all _Resident
Members of the University_ (with addresses, telephone numbers, &c.).
The University twice during the war printed its _Roll of Service_, and in
1920 published the third and definitive edition: it contains the names,
fourteen thousand five hundred and sixty-one in number, of those members
of the University who served in the Military and Naval forces of the
Crown. The names of those who gave their lives, two thousand four hundred
and seventy-four in number, are distinguished by heavy type.
_The Oxford University Almanack_ has been printed annually since 1674,
and of the illustrations since 1716 the Press possesses the original
plates. By far the greater number are still on sale. Many of the recent
plates are of great interest and beauty; those for 1906-10, and that
for 1918, are collotypes from drawings made for the Almanack by Mr.
Muirhead Bone; most of the later issues are chromo-collotypes reproducing
water-colour drawings, preserved at Oxford, by J. M. W. Turner and other
artists of his time.
The historical books dealing with Oxford and published by the Press
include Mr. Madan’s _Oxford Books_, ‘1468’-1650, a work much esteemed by
bibliographers; Mr. Shadwell’s _Enactments in Parliament_ (concerning
Oxford, Cambridge, Winchester, Eton, and Westminster); Mrs. Poole’s
three volumes (one is out of print) of illustrated catalogues of Oxford
Portraits (all these published for, or in co-operation with, the Oxford
Historical Society); and, in a lighter vein, Mr. Lamborn’s popular
_Story of Architecture in Oxford Stone_ and handy guides, written by
experts, to the Bodleian, other Oxford Libraries, the Ashmolean Museum,
the University Museum (of Natural Science), and the picturesque Degree
Ceremony (by the Warden of Wadham). The Press offers also a _History of
Oxford Rowing_, and the collected _Orationes_ of the late Public Orator,
Dr. W. W. Merry, perhaps the only man of modern times who could make a
Latin speech intelligible to an audience of undergraduates and ladies.
Lord Curzon’s work on _University Reform_ published in 1909 is still on
sale.
§ 6. _The Oxford English Dictionary_
The work described on its title-page as _A New English Dictionary
on Historical Principles,_ and long known familiarly as _N.E.D._ or
_Murray’s Dictionary_, but now generally as the _Oxford Dictionary_,
has a continuous history of more than half a century. It was in 1857
that Dean Trench (afterwards Archbishop Trench) laid the foundation
of the work by calling the attention of the Philological Society to
the inadequacy of all existing English Dictionaries. He pointed out
that thousands of words which had become obsolete, but remained in the
national literature, had either escaped the diligence of lexicographers
or had been excluded by the limitations of their plan; and in especial
that no dictionary gave any account of the _history_ of words and their
senses; in none was it ascertained when a word was first used, when (if
obsolete) it had last been used, and how its senses had been developed.
The members of the Philological Society threw themselves eagerly into
the plan proposed for supplying these deficiencies, and an army of
volunteers set about the systematic examination of the whole body of
English literature. At length a dictionary was projected (in place of the
supplement first suggested, which it was realized would be much larger
than the works it was designed to supplement), and Mr. Herbert Coleridge
was appointed editor. Fresh volunteers were enlisted, and the work made
progress. But it could hardly have taken shape without the tireless
industry and indomitable courage of the next editor, Dr. Furnivall, who
saw, but did not shrink from, the immense preparatory labours yet to
be faced. Furnivall realized that an English Dictionary could not be
made until the roots of the language could be examined in the mass of
our early literature, which was then hardly known; and to provide this
essential he founded in 1864 the _Early English Text Society_—the long
list of whose publications, still growing, may be read in the Clarendon
Press Catalogue.
But even the enthusiasm of a Furnivall did not avail to prevent a growing
sense of despondency, when the work seemed to lengthen out indefinitely
with no promise of performance. No private publisher could be found to
undertake a work so vast. It was decided to invite the co-operation of
the Clarendon Press. The Philological Society and Dr. James Murray, who
had thrown himself into the work with an energy equal to Furnivall’s own,
and was by acclamation designated as editor, entered into negotiations
with the Delegates of the Press, and an agreement was signed.
It is fortunate that the magnitude of human undertakings is seldom
perceived by those who engage upon them. Coleridge had intimated that it
would be time to begin the Dictionary when a hundred thousand quotations
had been pigeon-holed. The efforts of Furnivall and Murray brought the
total to three and a half million quotations, selected by thirteen
hundred readers from the works of five thousand authors. The work of
accumulation has gone on for forty years since, and to-day the Dictionary
contains about one and three-quarter million _printed_ quotations,
selected from a greatly larger number. Dr. Murray himself agreed with
the Delegates for a work of between 6,000 and 7,000 pages. The total will
exceed 15,000. He expected to complete the book in ten years with a small
staff. To-day, thirty-five years after printing began, the work, to which
Murray himself contributed more than 7,000 pages, is being carried on by
three editors with twelve assistants; and the end is not yet.
It is impossible to value too highly the services of voluntary helpers
from the beginning to the present day. The completeness and accuracy of
the work, which is probably without a rival in any country or in any age,
could not have been secured except by editors of the greatest learning
and ability and by the training of a lifetime; but these qualities
would not have availed if the work had not been founded upon inductive
investigations of a range never before attempted. For the wealth of the
materials made available our gratitude is due to readers not only in the
United Kingdom but in all parts of the world, and notably in the United
States of America, where the Dictionary is regarded with affectionate
admiration as the common achievement of the English-speaking people.
Valuable, however, as the work of these voluntary helpers has been,
an even larger debt of gratitude is due to the faithful labours of
the editorial staff of assistants, some of whom can trace back their
term of service to the earliest years of the undertaking. To their
acumen, vigilance, and zeal have been and are due in large measure
the completeness of the evidence and the correctness of detail in the
presentation of words and their meanings.
Dr. Murray with his staff moved to Oxford in 1885, and there the work
has been continuously carried on, partly in the _Scriptorium_ attached
to Dr. Murray’s house, partly (and in recent years wholly) in the _Old
Ashmolean Building_, next door to the old Sheldonian Press and within
a stone’s throw of the Bodleian. Here, as a section of the alphabet
comes to be treated, the material is sifted, extracts from it are put
in order, fresh investigations, often laborious, are undertaken to
settle etymologies and doubtful points in the history of a word; copy
is prepared for the printer, and references are checked. The complete
preparation of the material involves researches of the most varied
nature, some of which lead the editors even beyond the confines of our
own language to novel and important discoveries.
The scope of the Dictionary, in the form which it finally assumed, is
thus stated in the preface to Volume I:—‘The aim of this dictionary is
to furnish an adequate account of the meaning, origin, and history of
English words now in general use, or known to have been in use at any
time during the last seven hundred years. It endeavours (1) to show, with
regard to each individual word, when, how, in what shape, and with what
signification, it became English; what development of form and meaning it
has since received; which of its uses have, in the course of time, become
obsolete, and which still survive; what new uses have since arisen, by
what processes, and when: (2) to illustrate these facts by a series of
quotations ranging from the first known occurrence of the word to the
latest, or down to the present day; the word being thus made to exhibit
its own history and meaning: and (3) to treat the etymology of each word
strictly on the basis of historical fact, and in accordance with the
methods and results of modern philological science.’
[Illustration: GATEWAY OF THE OLD ASHMOLEAN]
As the history of many English words begins with the Anglo-Saxon period,
and the ‘first known occurrence’ may be as early as the seventh century,
the period actually covered by hundreds of the articles in the Dictionary
is one of ten, eleven, or twelve centuries.
The extent to which the aim of the Dictionary has been accomplished
is not yet so widely known as it ought to be. Many discussions as to
the origin, history, and meaning of words are carried on in newspapers
and periodicals which could be decided at once by a reference to the
Dictionary. Inquirers spend much of their own and others’ time, and in
the end write to one of the editors, in quest of information which has
for years been available in the published volumes. Nor is it solely the
student of language who can profit by the use of the Dictionary, although
in this respect it is of unique value both for English and Continental
philologists. Every scholar and scientist is likely to find in it some
fresh light upon his own subject, for many special points in the history
and terminology of the various sciences have for the first time been
elucidated in its pages.
The reputation, however, of the Dictionary is now so widely spread that
it would be superfluous to call witnesses to its unique qualities and its
profound usefulness. In the legislature and in the law courts, as well as
in the library and the market place, its ruling on the meanings and use
of words is accepted as final. Nor is the range of the work limited in
this respect to the usage of the United Kingdom; it embraces all forms of
the language sanctioned as standard by literary use, wherever English is
spoken and written.
For these and other reasons no proper comparison can be made with any
other English dictionary; but the magnitude of the result may none the
less be gauged by means of these. Taking one of the ten volumes as a
basis of comparison, the seventh, comprising words beginning with O and
P, has nearly 49,000 words (of which over 5,000 are obsolete and nearly
2,000 are naturalized aliens). No other English dictionary has more than
27,000 words beginning with O and P. When comparison is made of the
number of illustrative quotations, the difference is overwhelming; Vol.
VII has 175,000 quotations, and no other dictionary has much more than
20,000 for the same sections of the alphabet.
If it is thought that, great as the work is, it has taken an inordinate
time to produce, comfort may be taken from the fate of comparable
enterprises abroad. The great _Deutsches Wörterbuch_ started by the
brothers Grimm in 1838 began to be printed as long ago as 1851, and thus
had a start of over thirty years; but though it is only some two-thirds
of the scale of the Oxford book, there still after sixty-seven years
remains about a sixth to do. The Dutch _Woordenboek_ is less advanced,
and the dictionary of the Swedish Academy has not passed the letter D.
The state of the work to-day is that of the ten volumes nine are
published, and of the tenth (Ti-Z) substantial parts are complete, namely
Ti-Ty, and V, X Y Z, and the first sections of U and W. The end, however,
is not so near as might be thought; U is a large section, and W is in
many respects the most difficult letter in the alphabet, consisting as
it does almost entirely of words of Teutonic origin, and therefore of
obscure etymology and complicated history. A lexicographer makes light
work of _parallelepiped_ and _supralapsarian_; it is when he comes to
words like _wealth_ and _work_, _war_ and _waste_, _wild_ and _wilful_,
that his powers of discovery and of discrimination are seriously taxed.
Sir James Murray (he was knighted in 1908) died 26 July 1915. His
ambition to see the completion of the work on his eightieth birthday in
1917 was not fulfilled, and even if he had lived to devote to it his
amazing powers of application, could not have been fulfilled. He lived,
however, to see the end of his life-work in sight, and more than that of
any other man his name will be associated with the long and efficient
working of the great engine of research. The volumes produced by him have
characteristic excellences which cannot be exactly matched, though they
may be rivalled by merits of another kind.
The work is now carried on by three editors, working independently on
different sections of the alphabet. Dr. Henry Bradley, whose period
of work on the Dictionary now rivals Murray’s in point of time, is by
common consent the greatest of living English philologists. He has
been an editor since 1888. Professor W. A. Craigie, who has been an
editor since 1901, and Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon
since 1916, brings to the work of the Dictionary a rare combination of
qualifications. He is especially eminent as a Scandinavian scholar.
Mr. C. T. Onions, appointed an editor in 1913, has been on the staff
since 1895. He is also known to scholars as the author of the _Oxford
Shakespeare Glossary_ and for his editorial part in _Shakespeare’s
England_.
The London Goldsmiths’ Company contributed £5,000 towards the cost of
the sixth volume of the Dictionary, the title-page of which records
their generous support. Apart from this the whole of the editorial and
manufacturing cost of the work has been borne by the Delegates of the
Press, who have defrayed from their general revenues a heavy annual
outlay for many years. This has necessarily risen since the war, and it
is fortunate that so large a part of the work had been completed under
conditions less onerous than now obtain.
The price of the Dictionary has been kept very low, the sections being
published at the rate of 2_s._ 6_d._ for sixty-four pages or less than
a halfpenny per page containing on an average over 300 lines of type
and nearly 3,000 words. Few books have ever been sold at so low a rate.
The prices of volumes and half volumes stoutly bound in leather have
necessarily been advanced in recent years to meet the enhanced cost
of manufacturing; but the price of the Dictionary is still no more
than nominal, if regard is paid to the outlay precedent to the actual
manufacture of the books. Sections in paper wrappers, issued after 1920,
will be priced at the rate of 5_s._ for sixty-four pages; but it is not
proposed to raise the price of the bulk of the work in this form.
The London _Times_ in 1897 described the Dictionary as ‘the greatest
effort which any University, it may be any printing press, has taken in
hand since the invention of printing.... It will be not the least of the
glories of the University of Oxford to have completed this gigantic task’.
Lord Curzon in his _Letter to the University_ of 1909 wrote: ‘In the
staff of the English Dictionary alone the Press contributes to the
University what is probably the largest single engine of Research working
anywhere at the present time.’
§ 7. _Dictionary of National Biography_
This, the largest of all national collections of biography, owes its
existence to the enterprise and munificence of the late GEORGE SMITH,
who founded it in 1882. The work was produced by the co-operation of
a large number of scholars acting under the direction of the late Sir
LESLIE STEPHEN, with whom was afterwards associated Mr. SIDNEY LEE; and
the latter half of the work was produced under Sir SIDNEY LEE’s sole
editorship.
It was produced in sixty-three quarterly volumes, 1885-1900, the
arrangement being alphabetical; and the lives of those who died too
late to be admitted in their alphabetical place were included by the
issue of three supplementary volumes, which brought the work down to
the death of Queen Victoria and just past the close of the nineteenth
century. The sixty-six volumes were later reissued, with corrections, on
thinner paper, three volumes being converted into one; and this edition
in twenty-two volumes constitutes the main dictionary from the earliest
times to the close of the Victorian era, in the form now on sale. It
contains, in rather more than 30,000 pages, some 30,000 lives, each
equipped with a select bibliography. The roll of contributors includes
many famous names; conspicuous among the articles are those of Sir Leslie
Stephen himself, which are models of form and substance, and those of the
present Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, Dr. C. H. Firth,
whose Life of Cromwell is an acknowledged classic.
Continuing the work of the founder, Mrs. George Smith undertook a
Supplement covering the years 1901-1911, which was produced by Sir Sidney
Lee in 1912-13. This, as the first of a series of twentieth-century
volumes, inaugurated what may be regarded as a second and distinct work.
Further, in 1903 was published in one volume an _Index and Epitome_ to
the Dictionary, giving within 1,500 pages 30,000 succinct biographies.
The value of this compendium, to the very large non-professional public
to whom the main work in twenty-two bulky volumes is not readily
accessible, need not be emphasized. It has been thought proper, however,
to lay stress upon its usefulness as an independent work of reference,
which may fairly be expected to take its place, upon thousands of
shelves, along with other compendious dictionaries and encyclopaedias;
the Index and Epitome, therefore, along with the Index and Epitome to the
Supplement of 1901-11, bound with it, is now issued under the short title
of _Concise Dictionary of National Biography_.
The Dictionary of National Biography, with the responsibility for
its maintenance, was offered to the University of Oxford in 1917 and
gratefully accepted. Work is now in progress on a further decennial
supplement covering the years 1912-21. This supplement will be edited by
Mr. H. W. Carless Davis of Balliol and Mr. J. R. H. Weaver of Trinity.
The Supplement of 1901-11, the _Concise Dictionary_, and many volumes of
the main work, have recently been reprinted from plates; and the sale of
the work shows an improvement when compared with the years preceding the
war. Whether it will in the future be found practicable to attempt the
systematic revision of the main work must still remain in doubt. The
manufacturing expense of a new edition would be very heavy, and could be
justified only by searching investigations, leading to a very substantial
gain in accuracy, which must occupy years and involve a further heavy
expenditure. The total outlay required has been estimated at £100,000,
and this perhaps could not be defrayed without the munificence of a
second founder. It may, however, be hoped that such a work will not
at last languish for lack of funds. Meanwhile, under the direction of
Mr. H. W. CARLESS DAVIS, the Delegates’ adviser upon the Dictionary,
preliminary work is being steadily carried on. Subject-indexes have been
prepared; a bibliography is in hand of the biographical literature which
has accumulated since the publication of the Dictionary; and various
special investigations are being made into periods for which the work is
especially in need of revision. When it is remembered that a whole army
of scholars was continually at work upon the material of the _New English
Dictionary_ for more than a quarter of a century before the first page
was sent to press, it will be seen that the material of the _Dictionary
of National Biography_ may have to be newly surveyed with something of
the same elaboration, if that Dictionary is ever to be rebuilt from its
foundations.
§ 8. _The Oxford Medical Publications_
In the year 1907 a Joint Committee was formed between the Oxford
University Press and Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton, under the Directorship
of Mr. Humphrey Sumner Milford and Sir Ernest Hodder Williams, which had
for its object the production of Medical, Surgical, and Scientific books,
under the general title of the ‘Oxford Medical Publications’.
The Committee were peculiarly fortunate in having the invaluable advice
and assistance, in the choice of Authors and Subjects, of the late Sir
William Osler, Regius Professor of Medicine in the University of Oxford,
and a Delegate of the Press.
The key-note of the Oxford Medical Publications has always been the
practical character of the treatment. The popular Medical Manuals,
Monographs, and the ‘General Practitioner Series’ have now a world-wide
reputation, and include a large number of standard works, such as
_Diseases of the Heart_, and _Principles of Diagnosis and Treatment in
Heart Affections_ by Sir James Mackenzie, _A System of Operative Surgery_
by F. F. Burghard, C.B., _Common Disorders and Diseases of Childhood_
by G. F. Still, _Practical Obstetrics_ by Professor E. Hastings Tweedy,
_Guide to Gynaecology in General Practice_ by Comyns Berkeley and Victor
Bonney, _The Practitioner’s Encyclopaedia of Medical Treatment_, _The
Practitioner’s Encyclopaedia of Medicine and Surgery_.
By the acquisition in 1908 of Mr. Young J. Pentland’s business, leading
Text-books by the most eminent Scottish authors were incorporated,
including such well-known books as Cunningham’s _Text-book of Anatomy_
and _Manual of Practical Anatomy_, Muir and Ritchie’s _Manual of
Bacteriology_, Thomson and Miles’s _Manual of Surgery_, Waring’s _Manual
of Operative Surgery_, Thomson’s _Outlines of Zoology_.
The Oxford Medical Publications were awarded the Grand Prix at the
seventeenth International Congress of Medicine held in London in 1913.
This award was bestowed for the general excellence of the Students’ books
produced in the Series, and for the production of new and original work
therein.