The Early Oxford Press / A Bibliography of Printing and Publishing at Oxford, '1468'-1640; With Notes, Appendixes and Illustrations

by Falconer Madan

The Oxford Press of the fifteenth century is a peculiarly interesting one. At present fifteen works are known to belong to it, ranging in date from “1468” (1478?) to 1486 (1486
7?). Not only is its origin quite independent, so far as is known, of Caxton’s printing, not only are new products of the press still from time to time discovered, but the battle which has been waged about the date of its establishment has made the “1468” book a veritable typographical battleground, and in Henry Bradshaw’s opinion a touchstone of intellectual acumen.

In the first place some details of the various books will be given: then an account of the type and presswork: and lastly a description of each book supplementary to, and corrective of, that contained on pp. [1]–4.

Details of the Early Oxford Press.

No.	Date.	Place Named.	Printer Named.	Type Used.	Short Title.	Paper and Make-up.				Composition.
						Size by folding.	Size by make-up.	Size by appearance.	Copies on vellum known.	Signatures.	No. of pages.[[6]]	Size of printed page.[[7]]
1	“1468,” Dec. 17	Oxonia		1	Jerome	double	eights	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.	84	4¾ × 2¾
2	1479	Oxonia (or -ae, plural)		1	Aretinus	double	eights	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.	348	4¾ × 2¾
3	1479 80 (?), Mar. 14.	Oxonia		1	Ægidius	double	eights	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.	48	4¾ × 2¾
4	[1480?]			2	Cicero	double	sixes	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.	60	5⅛ × 3½
5	[1481?]			2	Latin Grammar	double	?	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.		55 16 × 37 16
6	1481, Oct. 11	Alma universitas Oxon̄.	Theodoricus Rood de Colonia	2, 3	Ales	single	eights	folio	+	a, b, &c.; A, B, &c.	480	7½ × 4¾
7	1482, July 31			2, 3	Latteburius	single	eights	folio	+	a, b, &c.; A, B, &c.	584	7⅞ × 4⅞
8	[1483?]			4, 5, 6	Anwykyll, with Vulgaria (two editions)	double	eights	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.	244	4⅝ – 53 16 × 3½ – 43 16
9	[1483?]			4, 5, 6	Augustine	double	eight	sm. 4o	⨀	a	16	4½ × 215 16
10	[1483?]			4, 6	Hampole	double	sixes	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.	128	57 16 × 3⅜
11	[1483?]			4, 6	Logic	double	sixes	sm. 4o	⨀	A, B, &c.; A a, B b, &c.	328	5⅜ × 3⅜
12	[1483?]			3, 4, 5, 6	Lyndewoode	single	eights & sixes	folio	+	a, b, &c.; A, B, &c.; aa, bb, &c.	732	10½ × 6¼ – ⅜
13	1485	Alma universitas Oxoniae	Teodoricus Rood de Colonia, and Thomas Hunte Anglicus	3, 5	Phalaris	double	eights	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.	136	4⅞ × 2⅞
14	[1485?]			4, 5, 7	Textus Alexandri	?	?	sm. 4o	⨀	a, b, &c.		55 16 × 33 16
15	1486 7 [?]			5, 7	Festial	single	eights & sixes	folio	⨀	a, b, &c.	348	79 16 × 411 16

No.	Short Title.	Composition (continued).										Printing.			Illustrations.
		Columns in a page.	Lines in a column.	Printing begins on signature.	Page even at side.	Headlines.	Marginal printing.	Paragraphs set back.	Space left for caps.	Directors.	Punctuation. . : , ? ()	Pages at a time.	Spaced.	Red ink used.	Borders.	Woodcuts in text.	Woodcut caps.
1	Jerome	1	25	a 1	usually	⨀	⨀	+	+	once	+ + ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	1	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
2	Aretinus	1	25	a 2	+	⨀	⨀	+	+	once, in one copy	+ + ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	2	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
3	Ægidius	1	25	a 2	+	⨀	⨀	+	+	⨀	+ + ⨀ + ⨀	2	⨀	+	⨀	⨀	⨀
4	Cicero	1	19	a 2?	+	⨀	⨀	⨀?	?	?	+ + (/) + +	2?	+	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
5	Latin Grammar	1	27	?	+	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ? ?	?	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
6	Ales	2	38	a 2	+	⨀	⨀	+	+	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	2	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	⨀
7	Latteburius	2	40	a 2	+	+	+	+	+	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	2	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	⨀
8	Anwykyll, with Vulgaria (two editions)	1	22?	?	+	⨀	⨀	+	+	once	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	2?	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
9	Augustine	1	26–7	a 2	+	⨀	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	+ + ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	?	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
10	Hampole	1	31	a 2	+	⨀	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	4?	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
11	Logic	1	31	a 2	+	⨀	⨀	+	+	+	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	4?	⨀	⨀	⨀	+	⨀
12	Lyndewoode	2	46 or 60	a 2 (a 1v)	+	+	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	?	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
13	Phalaris	1	21	a 1v	+	⨀	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	2	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
14	Textus Alexandri	1		?	+	⨀	⨀	?	?	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	?	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀
15	Festial	2	33	a 1v	+	⨀	⨀	+	⨀	⨀	+ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀ ⨀	?	⨀	⨀	⨀	+	+

Owners of Copies.

No.		British Museum.	Bodleian.	Cambridge University Library.	John Rylands Library.	Oxford Colleges, &c.	Cambridge Colleges.	Other owners of copies.	Total of copies.
1	Jerome	1	1[[8]]	1	1	3	⨀	Huth Library, Earl of Pembroke, Sir H. Dryden, Paris, America.	12
2	Aretinus	1	1[[8]]	⨀	1	⨀[A]	⨀	Norwich Cathedral, Earl of Pembroke, Chetham Library, Lord Ashburnham.	7
3	Ægidius	⨀	1	⨀	1	1	⨀		3
4	Cicero	⨀	⨀[[8]]	⨀	⨀	⨀[[8]]	⨀		⨀
5	Latin Grammar	⨀[[8]]	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀		⨀
6	Ales	1[[8]]	1[[8]]	2[[8]]	1	8[[8]]	⨀[[8]]	Durham and Lincoln Cathedrals, Dulwich College.	16
7	Latteburius	1[[8]]	1[[8]]	2	1	3[[8]]	2[[8]]	Lambeth, Westminster, Stonyhurst, Brussels, T. E. Cooke, Esq.	15
8	Anwykyll, with Vulgaria	½	1½	½[[8]]	½	⨀	⨀[[8]]		(3)
9	Hampole	⨀	⨀	2	1	⨀	⨀[[8]]		3
10	Logic	⨀	⨀[[8]]	⨀[[8]]	⨀	2	⨀[[8]]		2
11	Lyndewoode	3	1[[8]]	2	1	3	4	Edinburgh (Advocates’ Library), Durham Cathedral, Glasgow, Paris, E. G. Duff, Esq., Lord Crawford.	20
12	Augustine	1	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀		1
13	Phalaris	⨀	⨀[[8]]	⨀	1	2[[8]]	⨀[[8]]		3
14	Textus Alexandri	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀	⨀[[8]]		⨀
15	Festial	⨀[[8]]	1½	⨀	1	⨀[[8]]	⨀	Lambeth.	3½
	Totals	8½	9	9½	9½	22	6	24	88½
	Different books	6½	8	5½	9½

The finest set is undoubtedly possessed by the John Rylands Library at Manchester.

THE TYPE AND PRESS-WORK.

Seven kinds of type were used, the use of which can be seen on p. [238]. Facsimiles of all of them are given in plates II-V.