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We are now taking orders for copies of volume I of this first definitive narrative on work at one of the greatest of English presses | |
Finally published!
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Everything finally went off to Ludlow Bookbinders: 12,000 printed sheets; the dust jackets, spine labels, and folded and gathered sections for the extra volume in the de luxe copies which I had managed to print before our move; marbled sheets for the de luxe; and a great stack of printed photographs for the tip-ins.
This is the first of three volumes. (I had anticipated a fourth, on the Bible Press, but have decided it is more suitable as a long journal paper and hope to have it published in that format in the future.) It sets the scene by describing the first key resource of the Press, namely the sequence of premises that it occupied over the period: its first home was the Sheldonian Theatre and by the end of the period it was settled in the Clarendon Building further along Broad Street. But between those two magnificent buildings, in space and time, the Press had a third home in wooden premises that were initially built especially for it but that were subsequently pulled down to make way for the Clarendon Building. How did all these come about? Where did the presses go? Where was composition done? What was the flow of work around the building? The second topic covered is the roles that made up the management of the Press: the Architypographus, the Warehouse-keeper, and the Printer. Whilst John Fell and his partners worked hard to get the Press off on a sound managerial footing in the early 1670s, over the decades mismanagement became the order of the day until William Blackstone took it by the scruff of the neck and restored order in the late 1750s. Finally the book delves in detail into the history of the second key resource of the Press: the paper that it used, covering where it came from, how it was obtained, how much was paid for it, and how it was used and stored. At the outset good paper had to be imported from the Continent and supplies were disrupted by war. Later, monopolies and taxation aggravated matters. But as matters settled and English papermakers such as Whatman established themselves the situation was regularised. To illustrate the narrative, ten contemporary documents from the University Press archives and the Bodleian Library are newly reproduced as tipped-in photographs.
Copies of the de luxe edition come with an extra forty-page volume, Correspondence on Paper, that presents a collection of more than forty hitherto unpublished letters from London paper dealers to Thomas Yate from the 1670s. These documents, now in the Bodleian Library, are revealing for what they tell us of the difficulties that the early University Press had in obtaining supplies of paper from the Continent at a time of war. The letters have been carefully transcribed and edited with explanatory notes.
The contents of volume I are as follows: Preface The book makes 168
pages and the page size is 276 mm by 216 mm, the same size as all our previous
titles on Oxford University Press. The text has been set in 12pt Monotype Van
Dijck and 260 copies have been printed on 148gsm Mohawk Superfine paper. The
end-papers are also Mohawk Superfine. A paper prospectus can be sent on request - it adds no further detail but is indicative of the type and paper used. You can order by email or by writing to The Old School Press, Cliff Edge, Beer Hill, Seaton EX12 2QD, UK. Trade discount is a quarter. Shipping is charged extra at cost. Volume IIThe second volume - now in typesetting - is devoted entirely to the Press's third major resource: its type. Initially the Press was reliant on outside founders, then had its own foundry and the means to cut new faces, but by the 1730s had ceased making its own type and was buying from the then established English typefounders. Volume II will have the following contents: Preface The volume will contain sixteen photographs of contemporary documents and five photographs of ancient punches and matrices. The de luxe edition will additionally contain a collection of sample pages of books from each decade of the period concerned. Volume IIIThe third volume - written and awaiting production - builds on the first two and details the process from author's copy to printed and gathered sheets ready for sale. It will have the following contents: Preface The volume will contain eleven photographs of contemporary documents. The de luxe edition will contain an additional volume entitled Learning about printing, which, building on manuscript documents of the time, will relate the story of how John Fell and his partner Thomas Yate developed their understanding of the economics of printing large editions for sale to the London Stationers. All three volumes will be in the same format and binding. | ||
