§ 2 Oxford Books on the Empire
Oxford is proud to consider itself as par excellence the Imperial University. The administration of the Empire owes much to Oxford men, as the University in its turn owes much to her sons from overseas. Imperial subjects are an important and growing branch of study at Oxford; and the Press, true to its tradition of building upon the foundations of experience, has in time put together an imposing collection as well of the classics of colonization and administration as of new and original treatises by scholars versed in its theory and practice. These books being very diverse have not been confined within the limits of a series uniform in size or appearance; but they have a real unity, and deserve it is believed to be acquired as a whole by every library with any pretensions to an imperial character. Among the most important volumes may be enumerated Wakefield’s View of the Art of Colonization, first published in 1849, Lord Durham’s Report on British North America, Cornewall Lewis’s Government of Dependencies; and (among modern treatises) Prof. Keith’s Responsible Government (in its present form published as recently as 1912, yet already an established classic), and the same author’s Imperial Unity, Prof Egerton’s Federations and Unions, Sir Courtenay Ilbert’s Government of India.
The Press is so strong in books on India that it has seemed well to issue a special catalogue bringing together a mass of books which in the General Catalogue are listed under a variety of subject-headings. These include a large and important section published by the Press under the patronage of the Secretary of State—notably the Imperial Gazetteer of India in twenty-six volumes, the noble series of documents on the early history of ‘John Company’ compiled at the India Office, and the sumptuous publication of Sir Aurel Stein’s discoveries in Turkestan; but they include also a whole library of books produced by the Press at its sole charges and dealing with the history of India from the Empire of Asoka to the formulation of Dyarchy, with the geography, politics, and economics of modern India, and with the religion and literature, the fine art, and the music of Hindostan. The production by the Press in India itself of vernacular and other educational books has recently made great progress. (See also p. 65 for some notice of the series of Classics of Indian History.)