336 Obituary — Stephen Austin. 



Mr. Austin's name will be best known to the world at large as 

 one of the first and most celebrated printers of Oriental Literature. 



Mr. Austin and his father were the appointed printers and book- 

 sellers to the East India Company's College, the work of which 

 while Haileybury was being built, was carried on at Hertford Castle. 

 Mr. Stephen Austin retained that position until the Company was 

 dissolved in 1858; and it was under the auspices of the authorities 

 of that institution that he commenced the printing and publishing 

 at Hertford of works in various Oriental languages. Up to that 

 time great difficulty had been experienced in procuring the different 

 Oriental books required by the students in their studies ; those that 

 were obtainable were only to be had at great cost, while the type 

 used was so bad and the paper of such indifferent quality that the 

 books were oftentimes almost illegible. It was somewhat of a 

 revolution, therefore, when "The Hitopadesa" was printed with 

 new Sanskrit type at Hertford in IS-iT, as at that date there were 

 not more than one or two Oriental printers in England, and thence- 

 forward during successive 3'ears a great number of books printed in. 

 Sanskrit, Bengali, Arabic, Persian, Pushto, Hindustcini, Hindi, 

 Hebrew, and other Eastern languages, as well as in Greek, Latin, 

 and French, were issued from the Hertford Press of Stephen 

 Austin, which in due time acquired a world-wide reputation for 

 Oriental printing, and many of the finest specimens of Oriental 

 typography now extant bear his name. The skill and taste dis- 

 played in these productions were acknowledged by the presentation 

 to Mr. Austin of gold medals by her Majesty the Queen and the 

 Empress of the French, by the award of medals of the first class at 

 the International Exhibitions held in London and Paris, and by 

 testimonials from many of the most eminent Oriental scholars of 

 Europe and India; and in the year 1883 the Congres International 

 des Orientalistes presented their diploma to Mr. Austin for services 

 rendered to Oriental literature. 



After the abolition of the East India Company's College at 

 Haileybury, Mr. Austin was mainly instrumental in rescuing this 

 historical place of learning from becoming an asylum or workhouse, 

 and establishing the present successful Public School there; and in 

 1882 the Council of Haileybury College acknowledged Mr. Austin's 

 valuable- exertions by the presentation of a handsome service of 

 plate. 



In 1834 Mr. Austin established the " Eeformer " Newspaper, now 

 called the " Hertfordshire Mercury," which he has carried on success- 

 fully for more than fifty years. 



It would be impossible to speak here of all the public offices 

 Mr, Austin held during his long life in connection with his native 

 town and county, or of the many marks of esteem and regard which 

 he received. He leaves five sons and four daughters to cherish his 

 memory, and who will share with many associates a tender regret 

 for the loss to them of an honoured parent, and to us, of a dear and 

 valued friend. H. W. 



