In 1603 there appeared Threnothriambeuticon. Academiae Cantabrigiensis ob damnum lucrosum, & infoelicitatem foelicissimam, luctuosus triumphus, a symposium of classical expressions of grief and joy on the death of Elizabeth and the accession of James I. Amongst the contributors were Phineas Fletcher, Matthew Wren (afterwards Bishop of Ely) and Dr Stephen Perse. Similar anthologies of loyalty were published in celebration of the return of the Prince of Wales from Spain in 1623 and of his accession in 1625, and the practice was continued throughout several reigns; a poem in Latin hexameters (In homines nefarios) was also provoked by the Gunpowder Plot. Two works of James I were printed at the Press: A Princes Looking Glasse, translated by W. Willymot (1603), and A Remonstrance for the Right of Kings (1616 and 1619).
In 1610 there appeared the first work of Giles Fletcher: Christs Victorie and Triumph in Heaven and Earth over and after death, with a dedicatory epistle to Nevile, the Master of Trinity:
My opinion of this Island hath always been, that it is the very face, and beauty of all Europe, in which both true Religion is faithfully professed without superstition, and (if on earth) true Learning sweetly flourishes without ostentation: and what are the two eyes of this Land, but the two Universities ... and truly I should forget myself, if I should not call Cambridge the right eye.
In the same year there was printed for David Owen, Fellow of Clare Hall, a controversial work entitled Herod and Pilate reconciled. This led Ralph Brownrigg (Fellow of Pembroke and afterwards Bishop of Exeter) to invite Owen to his rooms and to catechise him as to whether a king breaking fundamental laws might be opposed. The Vice-Chancellor thereupon summoned Brownrigg to Trinity and after reminding him that Owen's book had received official sanction to be printed, suspended him from his degrees both for questioning the university's privilege of printing and for propounding seditious questions to Owen. Brownrigg recanted shortly afterwards and was restored by the Vice-Chancellor, but the incident is interesting, as showing the jealousy with which the privilege of university printing was guarded and the limitations imposed upon free speech even in college rooms.
More serious trouble arose out of the publication of a controversial work entitled The Interpreter by John Cowell, Master of Trinity Hall. It was suppressed by royal proclamation in 1610 and all copies were ordered to be brought to the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor.
In 1623 Legge printed the first Cambridge book which contained music—The Whole Booke of Psalmes ... with apt notes to sing them.
Upon the methods and costs of printing at this time an interesting light is thrown by a document of 1622 entitled A direction to value most Bookes by the charges of the Printer and Stationer as paper was sould[34].
The finest paper is reckoned at 5s 6d, the lowest quality at 3s 4d the ream; the former was used for Bibles and Psalms in 8vo, for which the charge of printing and paper is estimated at 13s 4d the ream, the cheaper kind for grammars and school books, printed for 8s the ream ("though the Londiner giveth but 6s 8d at the most").
Evidently the writer is seeking to show that the London Stationers were making exorbitant profits on the sheets they bought from the Cambridge printers, for he goes on: