Smith also claims a development of the bible business:
I had the honour of being elected Printer at the close of 1809—at that time the number of Presses employed did not exceed eight: the number increased in 1812 and 1813 to thirteen. At this period, and on to 1815 and 17 increased and increasing Orders flowed in from the British and Foreign Bible Society and also (through Messrs Rivingtons) from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge....
The fact is, that from 1813 to 1815 the demand for Bibles etc was such, that had the same quantity of work to be executed been required to be finished in the manner in which the same books are now printed, they would not possibly have been done with the means the Press then possessed—"Send up the Books in gatherings" (i.e. divisions) was the repeated order of the Bible Society—"and we will spare you the trouble of booking off etc, etc." Many thousand copies were thus supplied which were never properly dried....
Finally, a statement is presented showing an average annual profit of £3191 from 1809 to 1827.
The Syndics, however, adhered to their view and invited Mr Clowes, of London, to examine the Press; Clowes sent his overseer, John William Parker, and in February, 1829, was appointed Superintendent of the Press at a salary of £400 a year on the understanding that, while he himself should execute the London business which the appointment involved, the actual superintendence at Cambridge should be deputed to Parker.
Parker infused new life into the business: he introduced improved methods of book-keeping, bought new types and hydraulic presses, installed an apparatus "for warming the Press buildings by means of heated air," and in 1832 established a depository for the sale of Cambridge bibles and prayer-books at his house in the Strand.
When John Smith retired with a pension in 1836, Parker was appointed printer in his place, visiting Cambridge for two days every fortnight; the bible business continued to expand and in 1838 Parker could offer fifty-six different editions of the bible and prayer-book. One bible calls for special comment: on 10 January, 1835, King William IV wrote to the Marquess Camden from the Pavilion, Brighton, suggesting that there should be printed at Cambridge, as at Oxford, a certain number of bibles for presentation to sovereigns visiting the country. The Chancellor conveyed the suggestion to the Syndics who unanimously agreed "that in obedience to His Majesty's command a quarto Bible with marginal references be immediately put to press"; 250 copies, printed on Imperial paper, were to be reserved for purposes of presentation and one copy was to be struck off on vellum for the King himself; larger editions were to be printed on ordinary paper for general sale and Parker was instructed to order a special fount of English type.
Reductions in the cost of bibles were also effected and the Royal Commission of 1850-52 remarked upon the great reduction of price between 1830 and 1850 "attributable to improved machinery and to better arrangements in the establishment." One of the most important of these improvements was the introduction of steam-power for printing, the Syndics resolving on 13 June, 1838, "that it appears expedient to introduce machinery into the Pitt Press."
For many years, however, the Bible Society stoutly refused to purchase books printed by steam presses.
Apart from the great advances made in the actual processes of printing during this period, Parker's work is also of great importance in the development of Cambridge publishing.