158 Industries 



Milton, with its own pit of gravel and sand, specialising in roofing tiles, 



blocks and bricks; the Cambridge Artificial Stone Co., dealing mainly 



with architectural specialities; the Atlas Stone Co., producing paving 



slabs and kerbing ; and Messrs Tidnams Ltd. of Wisbech, concerned with 



a variety of concrete products. 



Printing. Amidst much that is obscure and controversial, two facts 



stand out clearly in the early history of Cambridge printing : first, that 



John Siberch, a friend of Erasmus, started printing in 1521 ; and, secondly, 



that the University received clear authority to "print all manner of books" 



under the charter granted by Henry VIII in 1534. During the sixteenth 



and seventeenth centuries the primary pohcy of the University was to 



protect their printers' privileges rather than to develop the business of 



book distribution, and it was the common practice for Cambridge books 



to be sold through London booksellers. At the end of the seventeenth 



century, the University Press was organised as a University department. 



Large-scale reorganisation was undertaken by Richard Bentley, who 



secured the appointment of the first Press Syndicate; from 1698 to the 



present day, the Press has been governed by a body of resident graduates 



known as the Syndics of the Press. During the eighteenth century, the 



Syndics felt their way towards pubhshing as well as printing. Their chief 



stock-in-trade at this time consisted of Bibles and Prayer Books,' but 



some notable books, such as Newton's Principia and Browne's Christian 



Morals, were also published in the early part of the century. Stereotyping 



was introduced about 1734 and an improved method early in the next 



century. The earliest printers carried on their work in various parts of 



the town, and the first University printing house was on the site of the 



present lodge of St Catharine's College. In 1804 a new building was 



erected on the south side of Silver Street, and in the course of time the 



Press has gradually absorbed the whole of the site between Silver 



Street and MiU Lane, the most prominent feature being the Pitt Press, 



erected in memory of Pitt in 1833, and recently reconstructed. A 



publishing department was inaugurated in London in 1873, and the 



University Press now employs about 320 men in the printing house at 



Cambridge and about 120 in Bentley House, the headquarters of its 



London publishing. Its catalogue contains the titles of about 5000 



books and journals which are distributed to booksellers throughout the 



world from Bentley House. All these are issued with the imprimatur of 



the Syndics of the Press. 



' In common with the King's Printers and the Oxford University Press, the Syndics 

 retain the privilege of printing the Authorised Version and the Book of Common 

 Prayer — a privilege exercised by virtue of the charter granted by Henry VIII in 1534, 

 and confirmed by Charles I in 1628. 



