History of Oxford University Press, Volume I

The story of Oxford University Press spans five centuries of printing and publishing. Beginning with the first presses set up in Oxford in the fifteenth century and the later establishment of a university printing house, it leads through the publication of bibles, scholarly works, and the Oxford English Dictionary, to a twentieth-century expansion that created the largest university press in the world, playing a part in research, education, and language learning in more than 50 countries. With access to extensive archives, The History of OUP traces the impact of long-term changes in printing technology and the business of publishing. It also considers the effects of wider trends in education, reading, and scholarship, in international trade and the spreading influence of the English language, and in cultural and social history-both in Oxford and through its presence around the world. This first volume begins with the successive attempts to establish printing at Oxford from 1478 onwards. Ian Gadd and sixteen expert contributors chart the activities of individual university printers, the eventual establishment of a university printing house, its relationship with the University, and influential developments in printing under Archbishop Laud, John Fell, and William Blackstone. They explore the range of scholarly and religious works produced, together with the growing influence of the University Press on the city of Oxford, and its place in the book trade in general.

Ian Gadd is Professor of English Literature at Bath Spa University. He is a General Editor of the Cambridge Works of Jonathan Swift.

Table of Contents
Introduction to Volume I
Part I: Establishing the Press
1: Kristian Jensen: Printing at Oxford in its European Context 1478-1584
2: Jason Peacey: 'Printers to the University' 1584-1658
3: Vivienne Larminie: The Fell Era 1658-1686
4: Matthew Kilburn: The Fell Legacy 1686-1755
5: Matthew Kilburn: The Blackstone Reforms 1755-1780
6: Andrew Hegarty: The University and the Press 1584-1780
7: Martyn Ould: The Workplace: Places, Procedures, and Personnel, 1668-1780
Part II: Learned and Bible Publishing 1585-1780
8: John Feather: A Learned Press in a Commercial World
9a: Richard Ovenden: The Learned Press: Printing for the University: Catalogues of the Bodleian Library and Other Collections
9b: Martyn Ould: The Learned Press: Printing for the University: Ephemera and Frequently Reprinted Works
10: Vittoria Feola and Scott Mandelbrote: The Learned Press: Geography, Science, and Mathematics
11: William Poole: The Learned Press: Divinity
12a: P. R. Quarrie: The Learned Press: Classics and Related Works: Classics
12b: David Money: The Learned Press: Classics and Related Works: New Year Books, University Verses, and Neo-Latin Works
13: Alastair Hamilton: The Learned Press: Oriental Languages
14: Matthew Kilburn: The Learned Press: History, Languages, Literature, and Music
15a: Vittoria Feola: The Learned Press: Law
15b: Peter Murray Jones: The Learned Press: Medicine
16: Scott Mandelbrote: The Bible Press
17: Paul Luna and Martyn Ould: The Printed Page
Part III: The Press in its Local, National, and International Context 1584-1780
18: Ian Gadd: The University and the Oxford Book Trade
19: Ian Gadd: The Press and the London Book Trade
20: Ian Gadd: An International Press
Conclusion