History, and the subjects akin thereto, afford less scope for homogeneous series than does the editing of ancient and modern classical literature; and it has been the policy of the Press rather to secure monographs of unique authority in special fields than to compile works of encyclopaedic information. A few examples will serve to illustrate the range and importance of the Oxford books produced in this way which have become classics in their subject: in the History of Antiquity, Sir Arthur Evans’s _Scripta Minoa_, Sir Edward Maunde Thompson’s _Palaeography_, Vincent Smith’s _Early History of India_; in the Fine Arts, Barclay Head’s _Historia Numorum_, Vincent Smith’s _Fine Art in India_, Dalton’s _Byzantine Art_; in Constitutional History and Law, Anson’s _Law and Custom of the Constitution_ and _Law of Contract_, Sir Courtenay Ilbert’s _Government of India_, Lord Bryce’s _Studies in History and Jurisprudence_, Hall’s _International Law_, Prof. Keith’s _Responsible Government_, Sir Erskine Holland’s _Jurisprudence_; in British History, Stubbs’s _Constitutional History of England_, Freeman’s _Norman Conquest_, Sir Paul Vinogradoff’s _Villainage in England_ and _English Society in the Eleventh Century_, Sir Charles Oman’s _Peninsular War_; in European History, Finlay’s _Greece_, Hodgkin’s _Italy and Her Invaders_; in Geography, Prof. Beazley’s _Dawn of Modern Geography_ and Mr. R. L. Poole’s great _Historical Atlas_. Books of this kind best represent the type at which Oxford has aimed in the historical and human sciences, and it is to the promotion of such works that the resources of the Press have in this field been most advantageously applied. When, however, the progress of a subject and the enthusiasm of an editor have combined to suggest another way, the opportunity has been taken of organizing research upon a common plan. Notable results of such combined endeavour are the _Oxford Survey of the British Empire_ and the _Historical Geography of the Dominions_ promoted by the late Prof. Herbertson and by Sir Charles Lucas of the Colonial Office respectively. The former work, containing in six volumes a general and a particular survey of the geographical, economic, and administrative aspects of the Empire and its constituent parts, was completed within a short time and published within a few weeks of the outbreak of the war. In an important sense therefore it cannot become out of date, since it affords a conspectus of conditions as they existed at the culmination of the former age, to which it will always be necessary to refer as a standard of comparison. The other series, which is in seven volumes (comprising twice as many separate parts), has had a longer and more chequered history, the march of events since the early years of the century, when publication began, having made necessary frequent revision and reconstitution. The work is still in progress, and India has recently been added to its scope. [Illustration]