in the Strand in 1832 and besides acting as agent for Cambridge
bibles, he included in his catalogue the greater part of the
educational books printed at the Press. The stock-books kept
at Cambridge show that the bulk of the editions were delivered
to Parker's warehouse in London or to Deighton's in Cambridge
and the names of both firms frequently appear on title-pages.
University publications, together with classical, mathematical,
and theological text-books and treatises, predominate in the list
and the names of such scholars as Blomfield, Babington, Colenso,
Donaldson, Hare, Monk, Paley, Scholefield, Shilleto, Trench, and
Whewell are to be found amongst the authors.
In 1844 it was proposed to reprint a number of standard works
in theology and general literature "in order to provide against
the loss which the want of full employment for the Workmen
frequently occasions." It was hoped that by such an undertaking
"the University would not only be enabled to secure regular
occupation for their Printing Establishment, but would, also,
acquire a copyright-interest in certain important Works which would
ultimately prove a permanent source of income." Out of a long
list three titles were chosen for publication: Stillingfleet's
_Conferences and Tracts_, Cosin's _History of the Canon_, and
Knight's _Life of Erasmus_.
Not all the books printed, of course, can be regarded as the
publications of the Syndics of the Press. Some were printed to
the order of an author or bookseller or society (e.g. the Parker
Society); others were private ventures of Parker himself (such as
his series of _Popular Literature_ including _Linnaeus and Botany_,
_Smeeton on Lighthouses_, _Cuvier and Natural History_, _Sir Joseph
Banks and the Royal Society_); but others were definitely the
property of the university, as the following minute of the Syndics
of 25 May, 1838, shows:
At a meeting of the Syndicate held this day it was agreed, that
the following be the form of an imprint for the New Edition of
Wilson's Illustrations etc of the New Testament and that the same
be adopted as the imprint in all such editions of books as shall
be retained as the property of the University
Cambridge, printed at the Pitt Press,
by J. W. Parker, Printer to the University
and again in 1850 it was ordered that it should be stated on the
title-page whether the book was printed for the author, editor, or
publisher.
Towards the end of Parker's career in Cambridge, there was a
distinct decline of business; the extension of the right of
printing bibles to the Scottish printers in 1842 led to "the forced
production of inferior editions which gradually lowered the prices
of those of better quality produced in England." The Syndics, in
a report to the Senate in 1849, while declaring the management
of the previous 20 years to have been most satisfactory, found
themselves faced by two alternatives for the future: either a large
outlay upon new types and stereotype plates, or the placing of the
establishment upon a reduced footing--and the second course was
recommended.
The condition and extent of the Press in 1852 is summarised in the
statement prepared by the Syndics for the Royal Commission.
There were at this time eighteen Syndics, who met once a fortnight
during term; by a grace of 1752 five (of whom one must be the
Vice-Chancellor or his deputy) constituted a quorum and the average
attendance was 7-9/23.
The printing-office contained frames for 70 compositors, presses
for 56 press men, and 8 printing machines, requiring about 50 men
and boys to work them; a 10-horse steam-engine, 2 boilers, twining
lathe, forge, and circular saw; one steam power milling machine,
hydraulic and screw hot presses employing about 100 men and boys in
all. The machinery was claimed to be "good of its kind." There was
provision also for "any number of Readers, Observers, Warehousemen
and Boys, necessary to carry on, get up, complete, and deliver the
greatest amount of work which could at any time be done."
The two financial privileges enjoyed by the Press were the
'drawback' of 1½_d_ a lb. on the paper duty and the Government
annuity of £500, less income tax[137].
The business of the Press was defined as consisting of the printing
of bibles, testaments, and prayer-books; of printing work for the
university and colleges; of printing books edited for the Syndics;
of book and job printing for the members of the university; of
printing works published by the Parker and other learned societies;
and of "such Book work, as, subject to the 'Imprimatur' of the
Vice-Chancellor, may be offered by Publishers and other connexions
of the Press."
Finally, the Syndics declared that it did not appear to them that
any change of management could produce greater profits than were at
that time realised.
Parker retired in 1854 and, in spite of the serious fluctuations in
the bible trade, the first half of the nineteenth century must be
regarded as a period of expansion in building, in machinery, and
in business. For the first time the chief servant of the Syndics
was a man with an intimate knowledge of the book trade, who served
the university as publisher as well as printer. The assumption by
the Syndics themselves of the full responsibilities of a publishing
firm was reserved for the later half of the century.
VIII
THE LATEST AGE
In spite of the statement of the Syndics quoted at the end of the
preceding chapter, the University Commissioners of 1850-52 reported
their opinion that
it is only by associating printers or publishers in some species
of co-partnership with the University, or by leasing the Press to
them, that any considerable return can hereafter be expected from
the capital which has been invested in it ... we are satisfied
that no Syndicate, however active and well chosen, can replace the
intelligent and vigilant superintendence of those whose fortune in
life is dependent upon its success.
Accordingly, on the resignation of Parker, the Syndicate
recommended that the university should enter into partnership
with "Mr George Seeley of Fleet Street, London, Bookseller, and
Mr Charles John Clay, M.A. of Trinity College and of Bread Street
Hill, London, Printer," and the grace for the deed of partnership
was passed on 3 July, 1854.
The control of the printing thus came into the hands of Mr
Clay, whilst Mr Seeley received the sole agency for the sale of
Cambridge bibles and prayer-books; Mr Seeley, however, retired two
years later and Mr Clay entered into a fresh agreement with the
university.
The period of Mr Clay's management was one of great expansion. At
the end of his first ten years of office it was estimated that
the Press produced about four or five times as much as when he
first undertook the management; in 1876, and again in 1886, the
Syndics reported to the Senate that the business had attained a
considerable magnitude and that large additions had been made to
the machinery and plant.
Increase of business naturally demanded increased accommodation and
in 1863 a foundry was built upon the site of some old cottages in
Black Lion Yard. Eight years later new machine-rooms and warehouses
were built on the site of Diamond Court, leading out of Silver
Street, and a still larger addition was made in 1877-78, when a
three-storied building was erected in the south-west corner of
the quadrangle. The most recent additions are the extensions of
the warehouse and machine-room on the Silver Street side and the
red brick building (containing the syndicate room and secretarial
offices), which forms the south side of the quadrangle[138].
In 1882 Mr John Clay, son of Mr C. J. Clay, was admitted into the
partnership with the university and from 1886 to 1904 Mr C. F.
Clay was also associated with it. Mr John Clay became university
printer on his father's retirement in 1895 and held the office
until his death in 1916, when the partnership was dissolved and
the present printer, Mr J. B. Peace, Fellow of Emmanuel College,
was appointed. From 1917 to 1919 the Syndics also employed the
services of Mr Bruce Rogers, whose distinguished work as a printer
is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. One of the best known
figures in the Press in the later half of the nineteenth century
was that of Alfred Mason. His remarkable personality dominated the
counting-house for a long period and when he died in 1919 he had
been for 65 years in the service of the Press.
The present buildings of the Press include machine-rooms,
containing large quad royal and quad demy perfectors, revolution
presses, and single cylinder machines; a foundry comprising
a stereotyping department, an electro-moulding room, an
electro-battery room, and two finishing rooms; type storerooms,
composing-rooms, and monotype-rooms; an art department for
lithographic, half-tone, and other process work; and the warehouse,
where the finished sheets are stored ready to be sent away for
binding. Every month an average of 40 tons of printed matter leaves
the Press to be delivered to London binders.
Printing is done in a wide variety of languages, including Hebrew,
Arabic, Pali, Coptic, Sanskrit, Hausa, Syriac and Amharic, and the
type catalogue makes a volume of about 200 pages.
Perhaps the greatest fame of the Cambridge Press rests upon its
mathematical typography. To glance at a page, say, of _Principia
Mathematica_ is to realise a little--but only a little--of the
minute care and skill required of the compositor, the press-reader,
and the machine-minder in the production of such a book. It may be
permissible here, perhaps, to quote one recent tribute from the
preface to Professor E. W. Brown's _Tables of the Motion of the
Moon_, printed in 1918 for the Yale University Press:
The reading of the proof has been almost entirely directed
to the detection of errors in the manuscript. That this has
been possible is due to the remarkable record of the Cambridge
University Press which in setting up over five hundred quarto
pages of numerical tables has allowed less than a dozen printer's
errors to pass its proof-readers and has, in addition, frequently
queried our own mistakes. Few sheets have required a second proof
and in the actual use of the Tables, as finally printed, for the
calculation of the ephemeris for two years, no error of any kind
has been detected.
On the retirement of Mr George Seeley in 1856, Messrs Hamilton,
Adams & Co., of Paternoster Row, were appointed as agents for the
Syndics' books[139]. This arrangement, however, does not seem
to have been satisfactory, as the name of a new agent--George
Cox--appears in the following year; a further change was made in
1862 when the firm of Rivingtons became agents for Cambridge books;
finally, when this agreement came to an end, ten years later,
the Syndics reported to the Senate that "acting on the advice of
Mr Clay" they had decided "not to appoint other Agents, but to
conduct their London business in an office of their own, under the
superintendence of a paid Manager" and that they had agreed "to
take a Lease of convenient premises in Paternoster Row."
The beginning of the Syndics' career as London publishers--in
the strict sense of the term--must therefore be assigned to the
year 1872. At that time the number of books published by the
Syndics--apart from bibles and prayer-books--was very small. Among
them, however, may be noted the first volume of Mullinger's _The
University of Cambridge_, published in 1873, the first instalment
of a monumental work which remained uncompleted at the author's
death in 1917.
In 1874 an important step was taken, the Syndics deciding to
publish a series of editions of Greek, Latin, French, and German
authors designed for use in schools and especially for candidates
for the Local Examinations. This was the beginning of the Pitt
Press Series, which now includes over 300 volumes, and such
editions as Sidgwick's _Virgil_ and Mr Verity's _Shakespeare_--to
name but two out of many--have become familiar to many generations
of schoolboys.
The Syndics' catalogue for 1875 (a pamphlet of 16 tiny pages)
reflects the beginnings of schoolbook publishing: it opens with
some nine volumes in the Pitt Press Series; then follow Scrivener's
_Paragraph Bible_, Scholefield's _Greek Testament_ and several
theological works including Isaac Barrow's _Works_ in nine volumes;
there are five editions of Greek and Latin authors, among them
being Paley and Sandys's _Private Orations of Demosthenes_ and
Heitland's _Cicero pro Murena_; mathematics and physics claim
nine books, including Kelvin and Tait's _Elements of Natural
Philosophy_; history is represented by Mullinger's first volume,
already referred to, and Mayor's edition of Baker's _History of St
John's College_; of law books there are three, including Whewell's
edition of _Grotius de Iure Belli ac Pacis_; and the list ends with
a few catalogues and university examination papers.
In 1877 the publication of another important series was begun--_The
Cambridge Bible for Schools_. The general editor was Dr J. J. S.
Perowne, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, and the first volume to
appear was Maclear's _St Mark_.
Originally designed for school use, the series soon attained a
wider public. It was begun before the publication of the Revised
Version and at the very time when the controversy was raging in
Scotland which resulted in the suspension of Robertson Smith
from his professorship at Aberdeen; when the series was finally
completed by Sir George Adam Smith's _Deuteronomy_ in 1918, many
of the older volumes had already been replaced or revised. On the
death of Bishop Perowne in 1904 _The Times_ referred to the series
as one which had "done more to spread accurate Biblical knowledge
among English-speaking people than any book except the Revised
Version."
The agreements between the university presses and the two companies
of revisers for the publication of the Revised Version had been
completed, "after much careful consideration as well as protracted
negotiation," in 1873.
Three years earlier the New Testament company had held the first
of its 407 meetings in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster
Abbey. The company included the most distinguished theologians
of the time--Hort, Westcott, Lightfoot, Ellicott, Scrivener, W.
F. Moulton--and at first an average of only seventeen verses was
revised in the daily session. Later, however, progress became a
little more rapid and the revision was completed on 11 November,
1880. The Revised New Testament was published jointly by the
university presses in 1881 and the Old Testament three years
later. The secretary of the Old Testament company was W. Aldis
Wright, for more than 30 years a Syndic of the Cambridge Press.
By 1890 the catalogue of the Syndics' publications had grown
considerably, not only by additions to the Pitt Press and other
Series, but by the publication of larger works on literary and
scientific subjects, such as Robertson Smith's _Kinship and
Marriage in early Arabia_, Willis and Clark's _Architectural
History of the University of Cambridge_, Maitland's edition of
_Bracton's Note Book_, and Jebb's _Sophocles_.
Cayley's _Collected Mathematical Papers_, in thirteen volumes,
were published between 1889 and 1897, and have since been followed
by similar collections of the mathematical and scientific work of
Kelvin, Rayleigh, Reynolds, Stokes, Sylvester, Tait, and other
scholars. Meanwhile, larger publishing premises were found to be
necessary, and in 1884 the London office was moved to Ave Maria
Lane; with the growth of business these premises similarly became
inadequate and the lease of the present offices in Fetter Lane was
bought by the university in 1904.
One of the most important of the Syndics' undertakings towards the
end of the last century was _The Cambridge Modern History_. Lord
Acton had been elected Regius Professor of Modern History in 1895
and early in 1896 the Syndics approached him with a view to the
compilation of a great English universal history. In his report of
15 July, 1896 Lord Acton wrote:
Universal history is not the sum of all particular histories, and
ought to be contemplated, first, in its distinctive essence,
as Renaissance, Reformation, Religious Wars, Absolute Monarchy,
Revolution, etc. The several countries may or may not contribute
to feed the main stream, and the distribution of matter must be
made accordingly. The history of nations that are off the line
must not suffer; it must be told as accurately as if the whole was
divided into annals....
and later in a more detailed report:
It will be necessary to prescribe exact limits and conditions,
and to explain clearly what we desire to obtain, and to avoid. We
shall avoid the needless utterance of opinion, and the service
of a cause. Contributors will understand that we are established
not under the meridian of Greenwich, but in longitude 30 West;
that our Waterloo must be one that satisfies French and English,
Germans and Dutch alike.... Ultimate history we cannot have in
this generation; but we can dispose of conventional history and
show the point we have reached on the road from the one to the
other.... If History is often called the teacher and the guide
that regulates public life, which, to individuals as to societies,
is as important as private, this is the time and the place to
prove the title....
The essential elements of the plan I propose for consideration are
these:
Division of subjects among many specially qualified writers.
Highest pitch of knowledge without the display.
Distinction between the organic unity of general history and the
sum of national histories, as the principle for selecting and
distributing matter.
Proportion between historic thought and historic fact.
Chart and compass for the coming century.
Lord Acton, however, did not live to carry out the work and the
editorship was entrusted to Sir A. W. Ward, Sir G. W. Prothero, and
Sir Stanley Leathes.
The first of the volumes of text appeared in 1902 and the whole
work was completed by a general index published in 1912.
This plan of co-operative history has been adopted by the Syndics
in several other branches of learning: _The Cambridge History of
English Literature_ was completed under the editorship of Sir A.
W. Ward and Mr A. R. Waller in 1916, and other works in progress
are _The Cambridge Medieval History_, _The Cambridge History of
India_, _The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy_, and _The
Cambridge Ancient History_.
Another important undertaking was the publication of the eleventh
edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ in 1911.
* * * * *
Short of summarising the forty-five main subject-headings of the
current catalogue, it would be difficult--as well as invidious--to
enter into further detail concerning the modern publications of
the Cambridge University Press. It may suffice to note that in the
years immediately preceding the war the average annual output of
new books, exclusive of journals, was 150. This figure excludes, of
course, the various editions of Cambridge bibles and prayer-books:
at the present time there are, apart from the various styles of
binding, 26 different editions of the Authorised, and 19 of the
Revised Version; 19 editions of the English, and 6 of the Scottish
prayer-book; of the latter, as of the new Canadian prayer-book, the
Syndics are the sole publishers.
During the war both the printing and publishing businesses
suffered from shortage of personnel, of metal, and of paper. Two
hundred and fifty-two servants of the Syndics joined His Majesty's
forces and of these forty-one were killed, or died, on service.
In conclusion, it may be remarked that the method of the government
of the Press by a body of Syndics appointed by the Senate of the
university has, with certain important modifications, persisted
since 1698.
The constitution of the Syndicate has been more than once
revised--notably in 1782 and 1855--and the length of a Syndic's
tenure of office varied from time to time. The present body
consists of the Vice-Chancellor (_ex officio_) and fourteen
Syndics; the term of appointment is seven years and two Syndics
retire each year. The first permanent secretary, Mr R. T. Wright,
formerly Fellow of Christ's College, was appointed in 1892; on his
retirement in 1911 he was succeeded by the present secretary, Mr A.
R. Waller, of Peterhouse.
The Syndics employ a staff of about 280 in Cambridge and of 110,
under the management of Mr C. F. Clay, at their publishing office
in Fetter Lane; their current catalogue contains the titles of some
2500 books bearing the _imprimatur_ of the university.
* * * * *
Such, in brief summary, is the measure of the development of
Cambridge printing since John Siberch set up his press at the sign
of the _Arma Regia_ in 1521.
APPENDIX
I. UNIVERSITY PRINTERS, 1521-1921
The names of those who are not known to have printed anything in
Cambridge are underlined
1521. ~JOHN SIBERCH~ He disappears after 1522
1534. ~NICHOLAS SPERYNG~
~GARRETT GODFREY~
~SEGAR NICHOLSON~
1539. ~NICHOLAS PILGRIM~
1540. ~RICHARD NOKE~
1546. ~PETER SHERES~
1577. ~JOHN KINGSTON~
1583. THOMAS THOMAS, M.A. D. 1588
1588. JOHN LEGATE D. 1620
? ~JOHN PORTER~ (before 1593)
1606. CANTRELL LEGGE D. 1625
? THOMAS BROOKE, M.A. (before 1608) Resigned (?) 1625
1622. LEONARD GREENE D. 1630
1625. THOMAS BUCK, M.A. At least till 1668
JOHN BUCK, M.A. At least till 1668
1630. FRANCIS BUCK Resigned 1632
1632. ROGER DANIEL Patent cancelled 1650
1650. JOHN LEGATE (_the younger_) Patent cancelled 1655
1655. JOHN FIELD D. 1668
1669. ~MATTHEW WHINN~
1669. JOHN HAYES D. 1705
1680. ~JOHN PECK, M.A.~
1682. ~HUGH MARTIN, M.A.~
1683. ~JAMES JACKSON, M.D.~
1683. ~JONATHAN PINDAR~
1693. ~H. JENKES~
1697. ~JONATHAN PINDAR~ At least till 1730
1705. CORNELIUS CROWNFIELD Pensioned 1740
1730. WILLIAM FENNER }
MARY FENNER } Lease relinquished by Mrs Fenner
THOMAS JAMES } 1738
JOHN JAMES }
1740. JOSEPH BENTHAM Resigned 1766
1758. JOHN BASKERVILLE Nothing after 1763
1766. JOHN ARCHDEACON D. 1795
1793. JOHN BURGES D. 1802
1802. JOHN DEIGHTON Resigned 1802
1802. RICHARD WATTS Resigned 1809
[1804. ANDREW WILSON (?) 1811]
1809. JOHN SMITH Pensioned 1836
1836. JOHN WILLIAM PARKER Resigned 1854
1854. GEORGE SEELEY Retired 1856
1854. { CHARLES JOHN CLAY, M.A. Retired 1895
1882. { JOHN CLAY, M.A. D. 1916
1886. { CHARLES FELIX CLAY, M.A. Retired 1904
1916. JAMES BENNET PEACE, M.A.
II. CAMBRIDGE BOOKS, 1521-1750
The list of books from 1521 to 1650 is reprinted, with some
additions, from that compiled by Mr F. Jenkinson and included in
Bowes's _Catalogue of Cambridge Books_
There is some doubt about the books printed in italics
1521
Bullock (Hen.). Oratio. 4º.
Augustinus de miseria vitae. 4º.
Lucianus _περὶ διψάδον_. Bullock. 4º.
Balduinus de Altaris sacramento. 4º.
Erasmus de conscribendis epistolis. 4º.
Galenus de Temperamentis. Linacre. 4º.
Fisher (Joan.). Contio. Latin by R. Pace. 4º.
1522
Geminus (Papyrius). Hermathena. 4º.
Date not known (J. Siberch)
[Lily, Wm.]. De octo orationis partium constructione libellus. 4º.
1584
Bright (Tim.). In physicam G. A. Scribonii animadversiones. 8º.
Martinus (Jac.). De prima corporum generatione. 8º.
Ovidius. Fabularum interpretatio a G. Sabino. [Ed. T. T.]
Ramus (Petr.). Dialecticae libri duo, scholiis G. Tempelli. 8º.
Rouspeau (Yves) and J. de l'Espine. Two Treatises, translated. 8º.
Sadeel (Ant.). [La Roche de Chandieu (Ant.).] Disputationes. 4º.
[Stokes (M.).] Catalogus Rectorum et Cancellariorum.
1585
Pilkington (Jas.) and Rob. Some. Exposition on Nehemiah etc. 4º.
" " Two treatises on Oppression. 8º.
Ramus (P.). Latin Grammar, in English. 8º.
[Stokes (M.).] Catalogus procancellariorum.
Ursinus (Zach.). Doctrinae christianae compendium. 8º.
Whitaker (W.). Answer to a book by W. Rainolds. 8º.
Willet (Andr.). De animae natura et viribus. 8º.
1586
Clarke (Wm.). Treatise against the Defense of the Censure. 8º.
Harmony of Confessions. 8º.
1587
Carmichael (Jas.). Grammaticae Latinae liber II. 4º.
Plato. Menexenus. 4º.
Thomas (Tho.). Dictionarium linguae Latinae. 8º.
Ursinus (Zach.). Explicationes catecheticae. Ed. 2. 8º.
1588