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a forthcoming book Printing at the University Press, Oxford, 1660-1780 volume III |
The third and final volume of this definitive study: 'Process: from author's copy to printed sheets' | |
 to be published Autumn 2019
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Volumes I and II covered the three main resources of the Press: its premises, its paper, and its type. Volume III builds on those to describe in detail the process that took an author's copy through to printed sheets ready for sale. | |
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As with the previous two volumes, the de luxe edition comes with additional material, in this case an extra volume entitled Learning about Printing. When Bishop John Fell and his three partners took over the University Press in the early 1670s they knew little of the economics or practicalities of printing books and had a steep learning curve to climb. They were helped with advice from their foreman, John Hall, and we are fortunate to find in the Bodleian Library manuscripts by Fell, one of his partners Thomas Yate, and John Hall, in which they explore over several years those commercial and practical lessons. Although they no doubt initially saw themselves as would-be entrepreneurs, in the event they proved no match for the London Stationers who could undercut them and spoil their hopes of financing the publication of short-run learned texts through the bulk sale of text-books to the Stationers. Through the fourteen manuscripts I trace that journey in this additional volume (32pp). I had started my research on these fourteen documents by transcribing them. Yate's writing is miniscule in places and his scratchy nib on the rough paper made for some tricky reading until I got my eye in. And then I needed some 42pt braces where a transcript was to appear in the printed text - that called for some tricky hand-work in the setting that I'm not used to!
April saw the additional volume being typeset for us in 12pt Van Dijck by Effra Typefoundry and the whole going through the press. Amongst the paper stocks we acquired on the sale of the Parkminster monastery print-shop I had a ream of demy hand-made laid paper that bears no watermark but which, we are advised, could well be from an English mill (although most of the Parkminster stock was either French or Dutch). It's not a great sheet, quite dark in colour for a book paper, and a tad coarse, but all in all it felt entirely appropriate since the text that was going onto it describes the attempts by the nascent OUP to print large editions of school-books on what would have been a cheap paper (albeit imported from the Continent at the time). It didn't need much to see that it would need damping so we have been working away with damp sheets - tedious but somewhat satisfying, and entirely necessary as, printed dry, this paper renders a very grey result! The specially marbled paper for the de luxe copies has been prepared by Jemma Lewis and the dust-wrappers for the standard edition are all printed, so I expect to send the main text for digital printing in the next few weeks - the 208pp sit waiting on my PC. If you are interested in more detail, in particular a fuller table of contents, you can find it right here. We expect to have copies for sale later in the autumn this year. As before we shall be offering a pre-publication price - more of that in our next newsletter. | ||
