The Vice-Chancellor (Dr. L. R. Farnell, Rector of Exeter College) and the Proctors; T. B. Strong, Bishop of Ripon and formerly Dean of Christ Church (extra numerum, by Decree of Convocation); C. R. L. Fletcher, Magdalen College; P. E. Matheson, Fellow of New College; D. G. Hogarth, Fellow of Magdalen College and Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum; N. Whatley, Fellow of Hertford College; Sir Walter Raleigh, Fellow of Merton College and Professor of English Literature—all perpetual Delegates: H. J. White, Dean of Christ Church; Sir Archibald Garrod, Student of Christ Church and Regius Professor of Medicine; Cyril Bailey, Fellow of Balliol College; H. E. D. Blakiston, President of Trinity; and N. V. Sidgwick, Fellow of Lincoln.
The principal officers are: in Oxford, R. W. Chapman, Oriel College, Secretary; J. de M. Johnson, Exeter College, Assistant Secretary; F. J. Hall, Printer to the University; in London, Humphrey Milford, New College, Publisher to the University; in New York, W. W. McIntosh, Vice-President of the American Branch; in Toronto, S. B. Gundy, Manager of the Canadian Branch; in Bombay, G. F. J. Cumberlege, Worcester College, Manager of the Indian Branch; in Melbourne, E. R. Bartholomew, Manager of the Australian Branch.
§ 6. The Finances of the Press
For some two centuries from the time of Fell the Press was partly controlled by private partners; since the last of these was bought out by the efforts of Bartholomew Price, the University has been completely master of all its printing and publishing business. The Press to-day has no shareholders or debenture-holders, and subserves no private interest. On the other hand it possesses virtually no endowment. The whole of its great business has been gradually built up by the thrifty utilization of profits made by the sale of its books or in a minor degree from work done for outside customers. The maintenance of the Learned Press, with its output of scholarly and educational books, many of which are in their nature unremunerative, depends and has always depended upon the profitable management of the publications of the Press as a whole. In the last century the revenue devoted to learning was supplied mainly from the sale of Bibles and Prayer Books; but changing conditions led the managers of the Press to the conclusion that if the promotion of education and research were to keep pace with the growing volume and range of the demand, it would be necessary to expand the general activities of the business in many directions.
In prudent pursuance of a far-sighted policy, the overseas Branches of the Press were established to increase the sale of Oxford books; new departments of the publishing business were created, such as the very extensive series of cheap editions of the English Classics, and, more recently, the Oxford Elementary Books and the Oxford Medical Publications; and in the course of years the publications of the Learned Press itself have gradually become more popular in character and addressed to a wider audience. In the event, the Press to-day possesses a business of such magnitude and variety as will, it may be hoped, enable it to surmount the formidable obstacles which the increased cost of manufacture opposes to the production of all works of learning.
The demands made upon the Press for the organization and publication of research are now at least as great as ever. It has again and again been pointed out by the friends of research, that organization and encouragement are idle unless the publication of valuable results is guaranteed; and in the past scholars in this country, and not in this country only, have looked to the Presses of Oxford and Cambridge to do the work which in Germany was carried out by Academies subsidized by Government for this purpose. But the fulfilment of such expectations is far more onerous than formerly. The tenth and last volume of the great English Dictionary, now more than half printed, will when it is complete have cost at least £50,000. The revised edition of Liddell and Scott’s Greek Lexicon, upon which the Delegates embarked some years before the war, is now estimated to cost £20,000. These are enterprises in the successful conclusion of which the honour of the University is concerned; and they will be concluded; but the date of completion, and therefore the initiation of other projects of learning, have inevitably been retarded by the events of the last seven years.
The endowment of research is a difficult subject, and nobody is more conscious than are the Delegates of the Press, that results of lasting value are not achieved by the mere expenditure of money. Yet they cannot but be aware that by the possession of the machinery and traditions of such works as the English Dictionary, and by their intimate association with experts in many fields, they are in a position to promote research and co-operative enterprise in the most effective and economical way. The support given to the Press in the past, whether by individuals or by other institutions devoted to learning, has been trifling in consideration of the work which it has produced. The need of such support is now far more urgent; and the record of the Press is proof that financial support would be turned to good account.