The Press publishes also, in the ordinary course of business, large numbers of books for which the Delegates assume a less particular responsibility; these are issued with the London imprint of the Publisher to the University (Oxford University Press: London, Humphrey Milford) or those of its branches abroad (Oxford University Press American Branch, Oxford University Press Indian Branch and so on), or on behalf of the numerous universities, learned societies, or private publishers for whom the University Press publishes either universally or in certain parts of the world. Among the bodies for whom the Press acts as publisher are the British Museum, the British Academy, the Early English Text Society, the Chaucer Society, and the Philological Society; the Egypt Exploration Society, Society of Antiquaries, the Pali Text Society, the Church Music Society, and the Royal Society of Literature; the Universities of St. Andrews, Bombay, and Madras; the University Presses of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton; the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, the American Historical Association, and the American Scandinavian Foundation. The Oxford Medical Publications and some other books are issued with the joint imprint of Henry Frowde (Mr. Humphrey Milford’s predecessor as Publisher to the University) and Hodder and Stoughton. The Press is publisher in Australia to many English houses.
§ 8. Catalogues and Advertisement
Until recent years the Press has relied on its trade catalogues and special lists, and on the skilled assistance of the bookseller, to make known to the public the great number and variety of its issues of the Bible, the New Testament, Prayer Books, Hymn Books, and kindred works, as well as of its general publications—reprints, medical books, elementary books and so on; while the Clarendon Press Catalogue of learned and educational books was a relatively modest affair of under 200 pages. The need of a single general catalogue for the information of librarians and book-lovers had long been felt, but pressure of business delayed its preparation until the late Mr. Charles Cannan addressed himself to the task, and with the devoted co-operation of his daughters (who had replaced the members of the office staff gone forth to war) and the advice of many scholars, produced in 1916 the first edition of the General Catalogue, comprising over 500 pages of close print and including under one comprehensive classification all the secular books sold by the Press, wheresoever printed, and whether published by the University on its own account or on behalf of other University Presses or learned bodies; together with a representative list of Bibles, &c. (useful to the inquirer though not intended as any substitute for the elaborate trade catalogues or for the indispensable guidance of the expert bookseller), and a very full alphabetical index.
The General Catalogue has in the second edition been brought up to January 1920, and a third edition is in preparation. Supplements are also from time to time issued comprehending the books published since the current edition of the Catalogue. The Supplement now current comprises all books published in 1920.
For the convenience of specialists the Catalogue is also issued in sections—History, Literature, the Classics, Natural Science, Cheap Reprints—and special lists have recently been made of books on such subjects as the British Empire, International Law and Politics, India, Modern Philosophy. Schoolmasters and University teachers are asked to apply for the Select Educational Catalogue issued at frequent intervals, which by omission of the larger and more elaborate books allows of illustrative information for which there is no room in the general catalogue.
The General Catalogue has been computed to contain over 8,000 distinct books or editions of books. These vary from such works as the New English Dictionary and the Dictionary of National Biography, with their 15,000 and 30,000 pages, to the smallest and cheapest pamphlets and school-books. The total may be guessed to comprise something like two and a half millions of printed pages of which no two are identical.