Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1896-05-11
TWENTY THOUSAND BIBLES
Output of Week at the Celebrated
Oxford Press Estab-
IiShnent.


One remarkable sign Of the times is
that despite all the talk of irreligion
heard on every hand, the Bible is selling
better than ever Though scores of mil
lions of these sacred volumes have been
scattered about the world, the produce
ton of the new ones continues with I'M
abated zeal, and they are sold without
the least trouble.
A single concern, the celebrated Oxford
Press. in the university town OF oxford,
Eng, the most famous Bible printing es-
tablishment in the world, actually manu-
features and disposes of 10000 volumes
of the Scriptures a week, or upward OF
100000 a year. A further interesting
fact that is worth remembering is that,
in all probability, the name of no living
man appears in SO many volumes as does
that of Henry Frowde, who has been
publisher to the university for over TWEEN
ty years.
The making of Bible has romance
all its own. And there are no other
printing works in the world that can
turn out Bibles, or, indeed, works Of any
sort, with the wonderful system, COM
pleteness and perfection OF detail That is
employed by this same Oxford Press.
Enormous have been the profits OF this
Oxford Press merely from the sale OF
Bibles. Out of the large revenues OBJ
tanned in this way the establishment mas
been able to undertake the publication OF
many important and valuable technical
works that would not have paid Tor Is
suing Of themselves. The works where
Bibles are made are particularly remark
able from the fact that ii them every de-
tail of the manufacture of book is car
ried on upon the premises, with one soil
tary exception, that of binding and gilt
edging, which is done in London
The establishment has it's own paper
mill, a quaint old building at Wolver-
cote. two miles from Oxford. and there
a variety of different papers are made,
some of the finest in the world among
the number, including the Oxford In
dia' paper, which for fneneSS OF texture
has never been equaled and the secret
of whose manufacture is known 20 but
three people. The Oxford Press has
also it's own type foundry, the Oldest in
England.
The frequent use of arbitrary signs
and curious characters in the books this
establishment issues make necessary an
immense amount of hand casting, all of
which is done to perfection. Even the
lead for the foundries is prepared on the
premises, though the anthony and the
tin are bought in the state required.
In a building near by the ink is mixed
and carefully tested with such degree
of success that not even the smallest let
ter is ever blurred or Smudged.
Typesetting the Oxford Bible is a
mighty task, for it is a matter of pride
that no mistakes shall occur. Not only
are Bibles of ordinary sized and form is
sued from here, but curiOsities as well
in the way of Bible making-brilliant
Bibles, finger and thumb prayer books,
in the very tiniest of types.
One curious feature which indicates
the amount of precision with which
these sacred books are prepared IS that
the various pages and the columns there
matter what type is used. In the proof
each Bible is read over and over again
for the detection of errors; Bible set
in minion type, say, with a nonpareil
edition, and then with BREWER edition,
and SO on.
When the pages are stereotyped the
book is read over again. 1t often hap
dozen times before they are sent to be
bound. Any employe who detects a
printers error is paid well, and the first
outsider who finds one is rewarded by a
guinea This care bears such good re-
suits that the yearly average of mis-
takes detected is but five.
The printed sheets are dried in hot
room, in which dry air is driven round
by large circular fan. From four to
seven tons of printed sheets a day are
sent to the bindery.
The skins Of upward of 10000 animals
are used yearly to cover Oxford Bibles.
Over 100000 sheets of gold leaf are re-
quired to letter the backs of the vol
umes.
At the Oxford Press ordinary rate of
speed it takes about fortnight to turn
out an edition, but if necessary the work
can be done in an extraordinarily short
space of time.-New York Morning
Journal.