§ 3. The Oxford Standard
The standard of scholarship, accuracy, and literary excellence which the Delegates maintain in the books published under their authority is believed to be as high as that attempted by any other publisher in the world. Its maintenance imposes upon the Delegates much labour and expense; but the effort is repaid in the reputation which Oxford books enjoy in the public estimation. The supervision exercised by the Delegates, both personally and through their advisers, is not limited to the initial judgement passed upon a book offered to them for publication; it extends through the whole process of revision in manuscript and in proof. When a book is favourably considered, an expert’s detailed report is very often laid before the author, who is asked to consider the suggestions made and to confer with the Delegates’ advisers; and this process of scrutiny is frequently far-reaching, the criticism being invited at one stage or another of a number of specialists in various fields. In this way many, perhaps most, of the books produced by the Press have received substantial improvement; and not a few have undergone something like transformation. To these benefits abundant testimony is borne in the prefaces of authors; more, perhaps, reposes in the archives in Walton Street.
The technical services rendered to scholarship by the Clarendon Press proof-readers are likewise commemorated in many a preface. The late Mr. J. C. Pembrey, who in 1847 read Wilson’s Sanskrit Grammar, and in 1916 read Prof. Macdonell’s Vedic Grammar for press, was well known to three generations of Oriental scholars; the late Mr. W. F. R. Shilleto did much to secure accuracy and uniformity in the series of Oxford Classical Texts; and Mr. George Ostler has left the marks of his vigilance upon many editions of the English classics. Long training in a severe school develops unusual powers; and authors are sometimes startled by instances of what seems beyond natural acumen. An author who had misquoted Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis in the usual form, was naturally astonished when the reader inquired in the margin ‘Should it not be et nos?’, which is of course unmetrical. The reader was right, nevertheless; but the source of his information remained obscure. In fields less recondite than this the authority of the readers is generally recognized; many editors have confessed that in the matter of Greek accents they should not think of disputing it.
The attention thus paid to the claims of scholarship and accuracy brings doubtless unmixed benefits to learning and education. To the Press as a business concern the blessing is less unequivocal. The Delegates’ resources are not without limits; and they are sometimes embarrassed by the ambitions of learned authors from all parts of the world, to whom nothing but the imprint of the Clarendon Press seems an adequate reward. They are obliged to pick and choose, and sometimes to decline a proposal which would attract them if it had fewer rivals. Another imputation is less deserved. A distinguished American who had been invited to dine in an Oxford College confessed afterwards that as he entered the room his knees knocked at the thought that ‘all these Fellows talked Latin’; and the public is sometimes frightened away from an Oxford book by the apprehension that it will be found full of Greek quotations. There is in fact no necessary connexion between accuracy and pedantry; and even Dons are often men of the world, well acquainted with the limitations of the average intelligence. No one need be afraid that an Oxford book on any ordinary subject will be any more abstruse than another book, though its facts will perhaps be better authenticated and its arguments more closely reasoned. The booksellers know this; and in reply to a customer’s inquiry ‘Is this a good book?’ have been heard to reply ‘Why it’s an Oxford book’.
Another fallacy which dies hard is that Oxford books are dear. This is perhaps no more than a hasty inference from the fact that Oxford produces an exceptionally large proportion of books which from their nature cannot be cheap. No one would expect to buy Liddell and Scott’s Greek Lexicon, or the Index Kewensis, for a few shillings; but these books and many like them are really inexpensive, if regard is paid to the number of words they contain. The Oxford Dictionary itself is sold at an almost nominal price. Many of the books, however, which appeal to a narrow public are properly priced higher than if they could be sold in large numbers; for the price of a book depends mainly upon two things—the number of words it contains and the number of people who will buy it. The art of publishing lies in nothing so much as in estimating whether a book is more likely to sell say, 750 copies at 15s. or 5,000 at 5s. The policy of the Press has always been elastic in this respect; and very many of its books are among the cheapest in their kind.
Specimen of work done by M. Burghers, Engraver to the University about 1700