These University printers, Parker & Guy, had many lawsuits with other firms, who claimed that the former had made £10,000, or even £15,000, by their connection with Oxford. Doubtless they had made money; but they had done their work well, and deserved their success.
Concerning Oxford Bibles, a writer in McClure's Magazine says, "In these days the privilege of printing a Bible is hardly less jealously guarded in the United Kingdom than the privilege of printing a banknote. It is accorded by license to the Queen's printers, and by charter to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and it is, as a matter of fact, at the University of Oxford that the greatest bulk of the work is done. From this famous press there issue annually about one million copies of the sacred book; copies ranging in price from tenpence to ten pounds, and in form from the brilliant Bible, which weighs in its most handsome binding less than four ounces, and measures 3½ by 2-1/8 by ¾ inches, to the superb folio Bible for church use, the page of which measures 19 by 12 inches, which is the only folio Bible in existence—seventy-eight editions in all; copies in all manner of languages, even the most barbarous."
The choicest paper is used, and the utmost care taken with setting the type. It is computed that to set up and "read" a reference Bible costs £1,000.
"The first step is to make a careful calculation, showing what, in the particular type employed, will be the exact contents of each page, from the first page to the last. It must be known before a single type is set just what will be the first and last word on each page. It is not enough that this calculation shall be approximate, it must be exact to the syllable.
"The proofs are then read again by a fresh reader, from a fresh model; and this process is repeated until, before being electrotyped, they have been read five times in all. Any compositor who detects an error in the model gets a reward; but only two such rewards have ever been earned. Any member of the public who is first to detect an error in the authorized text is entitled to one guinea, but the average annual outlay of the press under this head is almost nil."
As soon as Thomas Guy prospered, he gave to various causes. He gave five pounds to help rebuild the schoolhouse at Tamworth, where he had been a student a few years before; and when a little over thirty years of age, in 1678, he bought some land in Tamworth, and erected an almshouse for seven poor women. A good-sized room was used for their library. The whole cost was £200, a worthy beginning for a young man.
A little later Mr. Guy gave ten pounds yearly to a "Spinning School," where the children of the poor were taught how to work, probably some kind of industrial training. Also ten pounds yearly to a Dissenting minister, and the same amount to one of the Established Church.
When Mr. Guy was a little over forty, he gave another £200 for almshouses for poor men at Tamworth; and the town called him, "Our incomparable benefactor."
When Mr. Guy was forty-five years of age, in 1690, he attempted to enter Parliament from Tamworth, but was defeated. This was the second Parliament under William and Mary. In 1694 he was elected sheriff of London, but refused to serve, perhaps on account of the expense, as he disliked display, and paid the penalty of refusing, £400.
In the third Parliament, 1695, Mr. Guy tried again, and succeeded. He was re-elected after an exciting contest in 1698, and again in 1701 and 1702, and in two Parliaments under Queen Anne.