The Sixteenth International Conference on Books, Publishing & Libraries

Abstract

This paper examines the printing types both procured from Holland and commissioned in England by Bishop John Fell (1625-1686) for the Oxford University Press, published as a specimen in 1693 but in use at the press beginning in the later 1670s. The Fell Types are well-known to historians of type and print and have been the subject of numerous articles and books, culminating in a handsome folio volume compiled by Stanley Morison and published in 1967. Bishop Fell’s mission to assemble his types for the Oxford University Press required great energy and expense, and he encountered numerous obstacles and frustrations along the way, all the while serving as Dean of Christ Church College at Oxford, Vice-Chancellor of the University, and as bishop of Oxford from 1672. While the drawn-out process of assembling the Fell Types has been studied in great detail by printers and typophiles, my paper focuses upon the types in relation to the texts for which they were used and in comparison with contemporary institutionally-based publishing of the period in Europe such as the Imprimérie Royale in France and in Rome at the Vatican, of which Dr. Fell was well aware. A study of the Fell Types reveals the political and religious motivations for typographic innovation at Oxford, and the connections between publishing, typographic quality and authority in Restoration England. It also touches upon related issues of rights, privileges, and business practice in the printing industry.