This remarkable history of the early centuries of printing at Oxford is also an important contribution to our unduly limited knowledge of the history of the whole of the English book trade and of its organization and methods in the seventeenth century. ... It would be exaggeration to pretend that this is a book for the general reader, nevertheless admiration of its fine thick paper, large type with generous margins, and the lavishness of its numerous illustrations is also a reminder that its price must necessarily put it beyond the reach of many who would appreciate its textual content. The beauty and magnificence of the interior, however, is rather a sad contrast to the slightly cheese-paring quality of the binding. Quarter buckram seems inadequate clothing for so fine a book and is doubly unwelcome in a volume that many will find an indispensable tool to be frequently consulted. Perhaps personal prejudice is responsible for objection to untrimmed edges in such a volume, but it is easier to find a particular page when edges are untrimmed.

One final word of exhortation is addressed to another quarter. May we hope for an equally adequate swan-song from the Cambridge Printer?