In 1667 Dr. John Fell, Vice-Chancellor of the University and afterward Bishop of Oxford, gave the University a complete type-foundry with matrices of roman, italic, black-letter Saxon, and several Oriental tongues. Ten years later Francis Junius added to the equipment of the foundry a splendid collection of out-of-the-way types, including Runic, Gothic, Saxon, Icelandic, Danish, and Swedish, together with a considerable number of types of the more common sorts. This equipment of type for learned work and foreign language printing enabled the Oxford Press to take a position without a rival as a producer of learned literature. The presswork and composition done at Oxford were well maintained on the level of their type equipment, so that the Oxford University Press soon came to hold a unique position. CHAPTER IV THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION The eighteenth century was a very important time in the history of English printing. It was the period of the changes and inventions which led over from the mediævalism of the seventeenth century to the modernism of the nineteenth. Three special changes took place: first, the invention of stereotyping; second, the rise of the modern publisher; and, third, the dawn of modern ideas in types and typography. The story of the invention of stereotyping is the tale only too common in industry of the inventor who is ahead of his time, the selfish and thoughtless crowd who opposed him, the apparent failure of the enterprise, and final success for the idea when the inventor is no longer alive to enjoy his triumph. About 1720 it occurred to a Scotchman named Ged that it ought not to be difficult to cast type by the page. He hit upon the idea of making a plaster-of-paris mould of the type-set page and from it casting the plates. As usual in such cases, he needed a partner with capital and some technical knowledge. In 1727 he associated himself with an Edinburgh printer, who soon became alarmed at the apparent prospective cost and withdrew from the enterprise. Soon after this Ged got acquainted with a London stationer named William Fenner. Fenner in turn introduced him to Thomas James, the type-founder, and the three associated themselves in partnership for the development of the new process. For some reason James proved treacherous. Apparently the investment which he was making should have served to keep him faithful. Whether he became alarmed by a fancied danger to his business or was frightened or bought off by the printers is not clear. At any rate, his cooperation was only halfhearted. Instead of furnishing Ged with the best of type from which to make his moulds he furnished him with very poor type and his workmen wilfully damaged the forms.