University of Mississippi eGrove

Haskins and Sells Publications Deloitte Collection

1968 Fine bookmaker to the world Anonymous

Brian Seed

Roy Stevens

Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/dl_hs Part of the Accounting Commons, and the Taxation Commons

Recommended Citation H&S Reports, Vol. 05, (1968 spring), p. 04-09

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Deloitte Collection at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Haskins and Sells Publications by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. It is a rare company that can say of its book from a press at , a com­ products that Presidents and Kings mentary in on the Apostles' Creed have sworn by them for centuries—that attributed to St. Jerome, appeared in they consoled Abraham Lincoln, 1478. This was about twenty-five years crossed the American continent in after Johann Gutenberg's first work countless prairie schooners, sailed the printed from movable type appeared, seven seas, and still stand today beside and just one year after William Caxton almost every literate user of the English produced the first book printed in Eng­ language as his source of knowledge land. The Oxford book was the press- and inspiration. There can't be many work of Theodoric Rood, who had organizations that can make such a journeyed to Oxford from Cologne, claim, but one is the Oxford University Germany. The Press then languished Press. through a century of intermittent activ­ The oldest publishing house in the ity, this being a time when the crown English-speaking world, Oxford Uni­ closely controlled the use of the print­ versity Press with its many overseas ing press because rulers considered it a branches is a global enterprise that has danger to the stability of the realm. played an important part, though a Finally the Earl of Leicester, a favor­ quiet one, in the unfolding drama of ite of Queen Elizabeth I and Chancel­ our civilization. For books accumulat­ lor of Oxford University, obtained a ing man's knowledge and expressing his court decree in 1586 authorizing the aspirations have exerted a force as University to print. From that date to mighty as armies in changing men's this, the has beliefs and their way of life. In produc­ been in continuous operation. And how ing such books the Oxford University it has grown! Today the New York Press has helped to establish our mod­ branch of the Press offers 6,000 titles ern world. in its annual catalog. In England it Now approaching its 500th anniver­ offers 10,000 titles of Oxford books in sary, the Press in England and else­ print, ready for shipment. In addition, where in the British Commonwealth the Press in England distributes many has been a client of Deloitte, Plender, books originating in other publishing Griffiths & Co. since 1939. The Ameri­ houses abroad, so that its total offerings can branch of the Press, operating as a in Britain run close to 18,000 titles. separate company with headquarters Until 1880 the only office of the Press in New York, has been a New York was at Oxford, except for the Bible client since 1940. warehouse in London. Then Henry The Press is by no means an ordinary Frowde, warehouse manager, was ap­ book publisher. In many publishing pointed the first "Publisher to the Uni­ houses, merchandise ranging from the versity," with the function to distribute Copyrighted -- License finest to the most sleazy can all pass books issued by the Press in Oxford. from Black Star under the name of "book," provided Before long the London department be­ only that it has printed pages and a gan to originate books outside the fields cover. Oxford, however, has won world­ of academic scholarship, to which the wide fame as a publisher of the highest Press had confined itself. Now the quality books, noted for the lasting London department is one of the largest value of their contents, beauty of de­ publishers in Britain. Its books bear the sign and excellence of manufacture. imprint "London, Oxford University The Press did not win its reputation Press," to distinguish them from those overnight; it took a few centuries to produced in the city of Oxford, which reach the top. The first known printed read: "At the Clarendon Press." Copyrighted -- License from Black Star

Copyrighted -- License from Black Star

Going over the books in the Oxford office are Mr. A. H. Rippington (I.), Auditor of the Press, and Mr. J. Ness Prentice (r.), partner of Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths 6- Co.

Books line the Oxford office of Mr. C. H. Roberts, chief executive officer of the Oxford University Press and Secretary to the Delegates. The University scholars who are appointed as Delegates act as the board of directors of the Press.

(extreme left) Hand inker, from the collection of early printing tools maintained at the Oxford University Press.

5 Since the founding of the New York the Bible for which Abraham Lincoln branch in 1896, its first branch over­ thanked the donor by sending her a seas, the Press has established others portrait photograph from the White in Toronto, Melbourne, Wellington, House, inscribed: Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Karachi, "For Mrs. Lucy G. Speed, from Lahore, Dacca, Cape Town, Salisbury, whose pious hand I accepted the present Ibadan, Nairobi, Lusaka, Addis Ababa, of an Oxford Bible twenty years ago. Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Washington, D.C., October 3, 1861. A number of the newly independent A. Lincoln." nations continue to use English in gov­ Even today, with many thousands ernment and higher education because of titles on the Oxford list, the manu­ Copyrighted -- License their leaders were educated for several facture and sale of the King James from Black Star generations with Oxford and other Version remains a most important part English books. But overseas branches of its operations. Oxford in England of the Press now publish books in many had the honor of designing and print­ languages other than English. In , ing the Bible used at the Coronation of Two early homes of the Press in Broad Pakistan and East Asia, Oxford pub­ Queen Elizabeth II. The Press keeps Street, Oxford. The Clarendon Building (r.) lishes in fifteen languages, ranging the only other two exact replicas as was built in 1713 and housed the Press alphabetically from Assamese to Urdu. until 1830. Its older neighbor, the museum pieces. Offices of the Press in South, West and (I.), was designed by More than one hundred different , England's greatest East Africa publish in Afrikaans, Zulu styles of Oxford Bibles are available, architect, and dates from 1664. When the and seventeen languages in between. ranging in price from $2.50 to $150.00 Press was centered in the Sheldonian The most widely distributed of all and in binding from plain cloth to the Theatre it occupied the basement. titles have been the many editions of finest leather available. In 1967, Ox­ Oxford Bibles. As early as the 1630s, ford New York, using its special India , Chancellor of the Uni­ paper, published The New Scofield versity and later Archbishop of Canter­ Reference Bible (so named after the bury, secured a Royal Charter granting scholar who prepared the notes) which to the Press the privilege to print the was only seven-eighths of an inch thick, Authorized King James Version of the even though it had 1,600 pages. An Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. American telephone directory of that For some years the Press leased out its thickness would contain only half as privilege to print these books. But in many pages. 1675 Dr. , A distinguishing mark of Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of the University, books has been the beauty of the negotiated the return of the privilege, printed pages, in typeface and layout, and forthwith directed the publication thanks largely to the initiative of Dr. of the first Oxford Bible. Since its ap­ John Fell. In the mid-1600s he fur­ pearance, the Press has grown and nished the Press with the great collec­ prospered on the sound base laid by a tion of type punches and matrices, tremendous production and sale of brought from Holland, from which Bibles and Prayer Books. graceful types known by his name are Certainly the Oxford editions of the still cast and used at Oxford. Fell also King James Version were widely used had the foresight to encourage the in the American colonies after 1675, establishment of a papermill at Wolver- when they appeared in England. By cote, on the outskirts of Oxford, to man­ the time Oxford New York was founded ufacture paper for Oxford books. The in 1896, weekly shipments of Bibles to Press purchased the mill in 1870, and the U.S. often exceeded five tons. An it still produces paper for Oxford pub­ earlier shipment must have included lications, though in modern buildings. Being an old publisher, and a big Others are scattered through the years one, Oxford can claim its share of great too numerous to count, like a literary publications and "firsts." In 1612 it Milky Way. reproduced Captain John Smith's his­ Of all projects the Press has under­ toric Map of Virginia, which served as taken, the greatest is the multi-volume guide to the Atlantic coast of North Oxford English Dictionary, on which America for many explorers and set­ work began in 1882. Its editors planned tlers for decades afterward. In 1621 to dig to the roots of the English lan­ Oxford produced Robert Burton's Anat­ guage, in order to produce the defini­ omy of Melancholy, a detailed analy­ tive last word on all English words. Copyrighted -- License sis of the contemporary Englishman's The first volume appeared in 1884; the from Black Star behavior and moods. This pioneer work thirteenth, a supplementary one, came in popular psychology remained a off the press in 1933. A second supple­ standard in its field for a century or mentary volume is now in preparation. more. The magnitude of such a task of estab­ Other bright stars in the Oxford lishing linguistic conventions is such as University Press constellation were to evoke sympathy in the hearts of ac­ Robert Boyle, known as the "father of countants who have struggled so long chemistry," whose law for the pressure to define accounting principles. of gases is familiar to every high school In size, cost, number of people em­ science student; and Christopher Wren, ployed, man-years worked, or by any England's greatest architect, whose other measure one may choose, pro­ poems were printed by Oxford. In our duction of this dictionary was a labor own day, two of the most noted his­ comparable to building a great Egyp­ torians on both sides of the Atlantic tian Pyramid, or Chartres Cathedral. are among Oxford's shining lights- Like them, it will last through the cen­ Arnold J. Toynbee in England and Ad­ turies. It may be extended, but never miral Samuel Eliot Morison in the U.S. superseded, as a record of man's most important international language. The dictionary defines nearly 414,000 words, and contains nearly 1,830,000 quotations illustrating the use of Eng­ lish words throughout written history. Copyrighted -- License The price? Three hundred dollars. Examining an early bible of the Oxford The Press is owned by the Univer­ University Press, Harry Carter, Archivist of from Black Star sity of Oxford and is operated by a the Press, sits behind a collection of the magnificently engraved Oxford Almanacks, committee of University scholars, called which have been published annually by Delegates, appointed by the Vice- the Press since the seventeenth century. Chancellor and Proctors of the Univer­ sity. None of the Delegates is paid for Oxford's slogan on its shipping cartons his services^ although all of them by Copyrighted -- License attests to the age of the Press amid the long tradition receive a gratis copy of newness of the New Jersey plant and its every book published by the Press dur­ from Black Star equipment. The Press was producing ing their tenure. In these busy times books well before Columbus set sail that means about ten books every week. across the Atlantic. The Secretary to the Delegates, now Colin H. Roberts, is the chief execu­ Setting type for music at the Clarendon tive officer. Press, Oxford, Mr. R. Roberts works below racks marked by print shop punsters ("I am The American branch of the Press very Bizet," "Handel with care," etc.). is directly responsible to the Secretary and the Delegates, whereas all other overseas offices report to London. Both in England and in New York, the big- selling books help to pay for scholarly publications of more limited sale. Ac­ cording to John R. B. Brett-Smith, President of Oxford New York: "We don't look for best-sellers. With us, on the whole, they only happen by accident. If we tried for them, we would distort our whole objective." The editorial office of the Press in New York is on Madison Avenue in mid-town Manhattan. But H&S men on the Oxford University Press audit are mainly concerned with the sales and financial headquarters and warehouse at Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Here Rich­ ard C. Alence, staff accountant in charge, directs the audit each spring under the supervision of Frank H. Tiedemann, New York Office partner, and Bob Gummer, principal. As this year's audit was in progress the busy, growing operation was expanding into adjoining office and warehouse space twice the size of its earlier quarters. The American branch of the Press has no book printing press of its own, and no bindery. It contracts out the printing and binding of books to firms that can meet its demanding standards. Oxford buys its own paper and binding materials and supplies them to these contractors. (Printers provide the ink, and binders furnish their own glue.) Furthermore, Oxford owns the plates from which its books are printed. So on any one day Oxford assets may be scattered through fifty or sixty plants owned by other people. Or it may have valuable shipments of books in transit to its 20,000 direct customers. Or the warehouse doors may swing open to receive a giant container, trucked from the dockside, measuring 20 feet long and 10 feet square. The books from England that it contains may have a wholesale value up to $24,000. Photo by Roy Stevens One factor that keeps the book in-

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dustry exciting is the effect on inven­ tory values of human knowledge and taste. A book on electronics, for exam­ ple, may swiftly be made obsolete by rapid technical progress. But a classic in literature may sell steadily year after year, and a revival of public interest in an author may increase the demand for a book first published years ago. The American branch of Oxford concen­ trates on authors and writings that have proven themselves over the years, so it avoids the tragedy (common to most other publishers) of hauling off to the dump last year's books that no one will buy, or selling them as "remainders" for 29^ apiece. It can happen, but it does not happen often. In 1953, when the parent Press in Oxford reached 475 years in age, the Press in New York changed its well- known slogan from "Publishers of Fine Books for Over Four Centuries," to a more look-ahead form: "Publishers of Fine Books for Almost Five Centuries." In another ten years Oxford University Press will celebrate a really big anni­ versary by dropping the word "Almost" from the slogan. •

Tags labeled with the names of faraway places hang ready for use at the Neasden, London, warehouse of Oxford University Press.

In the busy warehouse at Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Harold R. Dejager, treasurer and financial vice-president of Oxford, New York, shows a shelf of notable Oxford titles to Bob Gummer (I.), HirS principal, and Frank Tiedemann (r.), partner in Photo by Roy Stevens charge of the Oxford University Press audit.