Editor, James Keogh Murphy. A further heavy loss was sustained at the end
of 1919 by the death of Sir William Osler, whose advice and assistance
had always been of inestimable value. After the death of Mr. Murphy,
the Editorship was temporarily undertaken by Lieut.-Colonel Sir D’Arcy
Power, who was responsible for several important additions to the Series,
including the well-known _Oxford War Primers of Medicine and Surgery_.
Towards the close of hostilities Captain Robert McNair Wilson, M.B.,
Ch.B., late Assistant to Sir James Mackenzie under the Medical Research
Committee, became Editor, and under his direction further important
additions have been made, including _Menders of the Maimed_ by Professor
Arthur Keith, _Studies in Neurology_ by Henry Head, _Operative Treatment
of Chronic Intestinal Stasis_ by Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, _Diagnosis and
Treatment of Venereal Diseases in General Practice_ by Brevet-Colonel
L. W. Harrison, D.S.O., _Plastic Surgery of the Face_ by Major H.
D. Gillies, C.B.E., R.A.M.C., _War Neuroses and Shell Shock_ by Sir
Frederick Mott, K.B.E., _Trench Fever_ by Lieut.-Colonel W. Byam, O.B.E.,
_Clinical Ophthalmology for the General Practitioner_ by A. Maitland
Ramsay, and _Tropical Ophthalmology_ by Lieut.-Colonel R. H. Elliot,
I.M.S. The present Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, Sir Archibald
Garrod, is a Delegate of the Press and an Oxford author.
The Oxford Catalogue now devotes many pages to the medical list, and the
American Branch, by the publication of the encyclopaedic ‘loose-leaf’
_Oxford Surgery_, has produced an important and valuable adaptation of a
British original. In the _Quarterly Journal of Medicine_ the University
possesses one of the most valuable scientific journals in the world;
and in the other medical publications it administers what is at once a
valuable property and a powerful instrument of education. Oxford medical
books are known wherever English is spoken.
§ 9. _Oxford Books for Boys and Girls_
The more recent activities of the Press include a notable enterprise,
started by Mr. Henry Frowde jointly with Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton,
but now carried on by Mr. Milford alone. This was the foundation in 1907
of a new department for the issue of educational works for elementary
schools, and of ‘gift-books’, useful and recreative literature, for
young people of all ages. The Oxford Reading Books, which headed the
list, set a new literary standard for books of the class; and the series
established itself not only in this country but in parts of the Empire so
remote and so diverse as Australia and Burma. It was followed by further
series of reading books, and of books on history, geography, arithmetic,
nature study, and other subjects of the elementary curriculum. The part
taken by the Press in the educational system of the English-speaking
world may now be said to comprehend the whole scholastic field from the
infant school upwards.
Concurrently with the school publications, the J. Department, as it is
known for convenience, has issued from Falcon Square a great variety
of books for the leisure hours of boys and girls. These include
finely illustrated editions of classics, such as _Robinson Crusoe_,
Grimm’s _Tales_, Kingsley’s _Water Babies_, _Alice in Wonderland_;
books on nature, science, industry, imperial history; miscellanies
both instructive and entertaining; stories for boys, girls, and young
children; and for the very youngest, picture books of all kinds.
All these publications are edited with care, and both on the literary and
on the artistic side a high level of excellence is aimed at. Some two
million copies of the books are distributed during the year.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Part of the first lines of the Great Charter of the
University granted by Charles I on March 3, 1635/6,
in which the printing privileges, first granted on
Nov. 12, 1632, were finally confirmed and settled. The
large initial C contains a portrait of the King in his
robes. The original is preserved among the University
Archives. The portion relating to Printing is reproduced
in full in Madan’s _Oxford Books_, vol. ii, pp. 526-30. _Frontispiece_
Device used on the back of the Title of _Sphæra
Civitatis_, Oxford 1588 _Page 10_
Four Founders of the Oxford University Press: Robert
Dudley, Earl of Leicester; Archbishop Laud; Dr. John
Fell; Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon _Facing 10_
The Old Congregation House (interior), Domus
Typographica. The first printing-house owned by the
University, used not for the process of printing, but
for storing Oriental type and printing furniture, and
assigned to this object by Convocation on June 3, 1652.
Until the opening of the Sheldonian Theatre in 1669 the
actual printing was done in the private houses of the
University Printers _Facing 11_
Upper Part of the first page of the _Oxford_ (now
_London_) _Gazette_, 1665. The oldest newspaper or
periodical still existing in England _Page 11_
Oxford University Arms. Some ancient examples used by
the Oxford University Press between 1517 and 1786 _Pages 12, 13_
Illustration from _The History of Lapland_ by John
Shefferus, 1674, the first anthropological book published
by the Press _Page 14_
‘The Prospect of Aleppo.’ From W. Maundrell’s _Journey
from Aleppo to Jerusalem_, Oxford 1703, engraved by M.
Burghers _Page 15_
Title-page of Anthony Wood’s _Historia et Antiquitates
Universitatis Oxoniensis_, published in 1674 _Page 17_
The Three University Presses: The Sheldonian Theatre; The
Clarendon Building; The Press of to-day _Page 19_
The Quadrangle of the University Press at Oxford _Facing 20_
Fire-place in the Delegates’ Room, Clarendon Building;
Grinling Gibbons Fire-place in one of the London Offices _Facing 21_
Specimens of Fell Types (see p. 15) _Page 24_
Specimens of old Music Types and of present-day Roman and
Italic Founts _Page 25_
Specimens of Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Slavonic, Oriental,
and Hieroglyphic Types _Pages 26-7_
Ancient Oak Frames in one of the Composing Rooms; The Upper
Composing Room; The Monotype Casters; Ink-making; The Old
Machine Room; A Perfecting Machine with Self-feeder;
The Old Bindery; One of the Warehouses _Between 28 and 29_
The Nagel Building: the New Bindery and the Crypt _Facing 30_
The War Memorial _” 31_
Wolvercote Paper Mill; Rag-sorting; Rag-cutting;
Rag-boiling; Rag-breaking; Beater Room; Machine
Room; Paper-sorting; Stock Warehouse _Between 36 and 37_
Amen Corner, London _Facing 38_
Examples of Oxford Imprints, fifteenth to eighteenth
centuries _Pages 46-7_
Title-page of the First Oxford Bible, 1675 _Page 56_
Title-page of the Altar Service used at the Coronation of
King George V, 1911 _Page 57_
Title-page of David Wilkins’s Coptic New Testament,
published in 1716 _Page 60_
The Bombay Branch _Facing 66_
The Toronto Branch _” 67_
The Melbourne Branch _” 68_
The South African Branch _” 69_
The New York Branch _” 70_
Show Rooms at the New York Branch _” 71_
Title-page of _Shakespeare’s England_, published in 1916 _Page 79_
Specimen of Work done by M. Burghers, Engraver to the
University about 1700 _Page 86_
Specimen of Work done in the Studio of the Clarendon
Press to-day _” 87_
Illustration from Lily’s _Latin Grammar_, Oxford 1692 _” 88_
One of the drawings by Henry Ford for _A School History
of England_ by C. R. L. Fletcher and Rudyard Kipling, 1911 _Page 89_
Gateway of the Old Ashmolean. The Editorial Staff of the
Oxford English Dictionary now carries on its work on the
lower floor of this building _Facing 98_
The Headpieces and Initials on pp. 9, 23, 58, 63, and 73 are taken from
Clarendon’s _History of the Rebellion_ (1702), the Bodleian Catalogue of
1738, and other early books printed at the Oxford Press.
The Fell Ornaments on pp. 33, 36, 38, 40, &c., are those used in Sir
Thomas Hanmer’s edition of Shakespeare, published in 1744.
The illustration on p. 112 is from Thomas Hearne’s edition of Roper’s
Life of Sir Thomas More published at Oxford in 1716.
[Illustration]