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demn him on that account? Not at all. His proceeding was an eminently English proceeding. Caxton conceived in his own mind that idea which we consider to be an eminently English idea—that he would make his great enterprise independent and self-supporting. Caxton seems to have determined to throw himself as far as he could upon the sympathies and intelligence of his countrymen-to do all he could by translations to bring learning near to their comprehension, and having brought them as near as he could, to trust them to do the rest. And the industry of this man was marvellous. We are told that by the time he died he had translated nearly 5,000 folio pages for the benefit and instruction of his countrymen. Printing, too, was not looked upon by him so much as a mere manual art or accomplishment as that it was his business to develope the art as a link between the literary works on the one side which he had printed and the minds of his countrymen on the other side, and thus of bringing them into contact. This is a very remarkable and interesting history, and I venture to say that those who have not had the opportunity of closely examining it will find that the career of Caxton, considered as a biography, had a deep interest for any reader interested in the history of literature, and for most civilized of English readers it is a subject that will well repay any amount of diligence and care bestowed on it.

66

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I will not detain you much longer. My wish is gained if those who have not made his character and career a special subject for examination shall happily be induced to look a little into the matter. The relatively backward condition of England at Caxton's time was evinced by the fact that after his death he had no English followers. Here I must say one word to point to the good sense and sagacity of Caxton. As I have said, he determined to make his press selfsupporting, and he did so; and I dare say when he died, if he was not a wealthy man, he was a man of substance. And he was not a "high flying" printer. He took a hint from those who preceded him. Those Germans, Sweynheym and Pannartz, who were first established [at Subiaco] in the neighbourhood of Rome printed a great number of magnificent editions of the Greek and Latin Classics, and what was the consequence? They became bankrupts. That was a very melancholy end of a noble enterprise, but it enables us to understand the modesty, good sense, and sagacity of Caxton when we see how he steered clear of those rocks. He saw there would not be demand enough in England for what may be called an ideal press. He limited himself to practical objects, and thus laid a sound foundation of what was a progressive work."

Mr Gladstone here took up a bound volume, and continued,—“ I now call attention in a few words to the progress of this art, and I hold up a volume in my hand to which I beg every one to direct his eye, because I think it may be called the climax and consummation of the art of printing. This volume is bound, as you see, and stamped with the arms of the University of Oxford. It is a Bible bound in a manner that commends itself to the reader; I believe in every respect an excellent piece of workmanship, containing more than one thousand pages. Well, you will say, 'That is very commonplace, why bring it before us?' I do so in order to tell you that the materials of this book sixteen hours ago did not exist. The book, was not bound, it was not folded, it was not printed. Since the clock struck twelve last night at the University Press in Oxford the people there have printed and sent us this book to be distributed here in the midst of your festival. They have sent several copies, one of which will be presented to the Emperor of Brazil, who has but just left our table. This shows what can be done, and is what has been done, and it shows the state to which this great art is now happily arrived. If I began with a humiliating confession on the part of my countrymen as to the small share we could claim in contributing to the early history of printing, we may leave off, ladies and gentlemen, in a better spirit, because I think that such a performance as this is one that will be admitted to be a credit in any portion of the world. (Applause.) Now I will trouble you no longer, but will ask you to drink with me to the memory of that valued and honoured name,

William Caxton-the first English printer, and for a while the solitary printer in this our beloved country.'

The paper was made at the Oxford University Press Paper Mills at Wolvercote, near Oxford, specially for this edition, only a day or two before it was printed. It might have been made (and is perhaps a matter of regret that it was not) on the morning of the 30th of June in time for the printing of this Memorial Bible.

It has been said that scores of houses might have done the same thing. But they didn't, and the possibility of any other house in England doing it depends upon the single fact whether any other printing-house out of Oxford keeps the Bible standing in moveable type. It could not probably have been printed from stereo-plates in the time, and it has been estimated by the compositors of one of the largest printing establishments in London, that it would have taken 2,000 compositors and 200 readers to have 'set up' and properly read the Bible in these same twelve hours, to say nothing of the press-work and binding. Unquestionably the Bible, with all its points, capitals, italics, and small capitals, is the most difficult of all books to print with perfect accuracy. Again no inconsiderable part of the enterprise was in overcoming the sixty-three miles between Oxford and London.

A List of the Oxford Caxton Memorial Bibles allotted up to Christmas,

MDCCCLXXVII.

N.B.-The 33 Numbers printed in the Roman numerals were assigned to Mr Stevens for Allotment.

I Her Majesty the Queen.

ii Mrs William E. Gladstone.

3 The Marquis of Salisbury, D.C.L. Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

4

v James Lenox, Esq. for the Lenox Library, New York.

6 The Archbishop of Canterbury, for Lambeth Palace Library.

7

viii

9 Mr John Henry Stacey, Oxford University Press.

10 His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil.

xi The Hon. Stephen Salisbury, for the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.

12 Mrs Combe.

13 Ex-President General and Mrs Ulysses S. Grant.

xiv Mrs Edwards Pierrepont, Wife of the United States Minister at London.

15 The Reverend J. E. Sewell, D.D. Warden of New College, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

16

xvii The Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, N.E.

18 The Reverend Mark Pattison, B.D. Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.

19

xx The Library of the Parliament of Victoria, Melbourne.

21 The Reverend John Griffiths, D.D. Warden of Wadham College, Oxford.

22 The Right Hon. the Earl of Beaconsfield.

xxiii The Library of the British Museum.

24 Mr H. E. P. Platt, M. A. Fellow of Lincoln College and Junior Proctor, Oxford. 25

xxvi Mr J. S. Hodson, Secretary of the Caxton Celebration, 1877.

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27 The Reverend Henry Octavus Coxe, M.A. Bodley's Librarian, Oxford. 28

xxix The Library of Parliament, Dominion of Canada.

30 31

xxxii

33 The Reverend Bartholomew Price, M.A. Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy, Oxford.

34

XXXV

36 The Bodleian Library, Oxford.

37 The Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society, London.

Xxxviii The Library of the American Bible Society, New York.

39 The Reverend William Bright, D.D. Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Oxford.

40

xli Mrs John Carter Brown, Providence, Rhode Island, N.E.

42 Mr Francis Fry, F.S.A. Cotham, Bristol.

43

xliv J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D. for the Watkinson Library, Hartford, Connecticut, N.E.

45 The Reverend H. G. Woods, M.A. Fellow of Trinity College, Senior Proctor, Oxford.

46 xlvii

48 49

1 The Very Reverend H. G. Liddell, D.D. Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.

51 Mr H. J. S. Smith, M.A. Savilian Professor of Geometry, Oxford.

52

liii Henry J. Atkinson, Esq. Gunnersbury House, Acton, Middlesex.

54 The Reverend William Stubbs, M. A. Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford.

55 The University Library, Cambridge.

Ivi The Library of Congress, Washington, United States.

57 The Reverend Edwin Palmer, M.A. Corpus Professor of Latin, Oxford.

58

lix William Blades, Esq. Author of the Life of William Caxton.

60 The Archbishop of York.

61

lxii

63 John Walter, Esq.

64 The Reverend Newman Hall.

lxv The Library Company, Philadelphia.

66 The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.

67 The Library of the Hibernian Bible Society, Dublin.

lxviii George Bullen, Esq. British Museum, Chairman of Caxton Committee No. 1. 69

70 His Grace the Duke of Devonshire.

lxxi

72 The Library of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London. 73 The Reverend G. G. Bradley, M.A. Master of University College, Oxford.

lxxiv Samuel Christie-Miller, Esq. Britwell House, Burnham.

75 Mr Edward Pickard Hall, M.A. Oxford University Press.

79 The Library of the Académie Française, Paris.

lxxx Prof. Dr Reinhold Pauli, for the Library of the University of Göttingen.

81 F. Max Müller, M.A. Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford.

82 His Royal Highness Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte.

lxxxiii The Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, N.E.

84 Mr William Nelson.

85

lxxxvi M. de Lisle, for the Bibliothèque National, Paris.

87 88

lxxxix Mr Alexander Macmillan.

90 91

xcii Chancellor J. V. L. Pruyn, for the New York State Library, Albany, N.Y.

93

94

xcv The Library of Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut, N.E.

96 M. Alfred Chaix, Paris.

97

xcviii The Newberry Library, Chicago.

99

100 Mrs Henry Stevens, Vermont House, 13, Upper Avenue Road, N. W. London.