Part 6

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.

In 1916 the Committee sustained a great loss in the death of their 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.