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The combined gifts of Dr. Fell and Francis Junius laid the foundation of the Oxford University foundry as it now exists. Even before the close of the century it had been augmented by numerous small additions and purchases. About the time of Fell’s gift the press received a second fount of Coptic, presented by Witsen, the Burgomaster of Amsterdam.[272] In 1694, Dr. Charlett, writing to Archbishop Tenison, refers to the founts of Slavonic and Armenian types, “very elegantly cut, which M. Ludolfus is bringing to Oxford from Holland.” The University also purchased matrices of Pica-Roman and Italic in 1692, besides adding to its stock some indifferent Great Primer matrices by Nichols, and music cut by the Oxford founder, Walpergen.[273]
30. The Sheldonian Theatre. (From an old wood block in the Oxford University Press.)
About the year 1669 the foundry, which, together with the press, had been carried on in hired premises provided by Fell, was transferred to the basement of the then new Sheldonian Theatre.[274] Here it was that, in the year 1693, appeared the earliest known “Specimen of the several Sorts of Letter given to the University by Dr. John Fell, late Lord Bishop of Oxford, to which is added the Letter given {154} by Mr. F. Junius.” A manuscript note on the title-page of the Bodleian copy of this interesting specimen adds “with puncheons and matrices bought of others.” These additions, besides those already noted, include an Ethiopic “bought of Dr. Bernard,” and some supplementary Arabic sorts and Syriac vowels “bought by Dr. Hyde.” The Specimen consists of eighteen leaves.
39. Ethiopic, purchased by the Oxford Press in 1692. (From the original matrices.)
In 1695 a fuller specimen (of twenty-four leaves) appeared with the same title, and included the Junian Danish, a few later acquisitions, such as the new Slavonic, and a fount of spoon-shaped music cut by Walpergen. To this document was also appended the inventory of “utensils for printing,” already given in the account of Dr. Fell’s gift.
Of the estimation in which this specimen was held at the time, the following eulogium of Bagford may be taken as testimony. He says: “For the satisfaction of the curious, I shall give a catalogue and specimen of the letter presented by Dr. Fell, the like of which cannot be shown by any of the great printing houses in Europe, which may be seen by that printed in 1695, although it may fall into the hands of foreign printers of Holland, Flanders, Italy, Germany and France, they must confess that they had not seen the like, both for the great beauty and goodness of the letters.”[275]
Apart from its value as a specimen of the Oxford foundry, considerable interest attaches to the specimen of 1695, as being the first polyglot production in this country in which a stated portion of the Scripture—the Lord’s Prayer—appears in as many as forty-five different forms and nineteen different languages. In this respect, however, it was shortly afterward eclipsed by a polyglot Oratio Dominica, published in London in 1700,[276] exhibiting the Lord’s Prayer in upwards of one hundred versions. This may, to some extent, be regarded as a specimen of the University press, as the two principal sheets of the work were printed at Oxford containing the prayer in the Hebrew, Samaritan, Chaldee, {155} Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Amharic, Arabic, Persic, Turkish, Tartaric, Malayan, Gothic, Runic, Icelandic and Sclavonic, of the University foundry.[277] These constitute the most interesting part of the collection, as the remaining versions, requiring special characters, are produced chiefly in copperplate.[278] Rowe Mores points with some pride to this specimen as showing how far superior we were at that time to our neighbours abroad in the variety of our metal types.[279]