§ 3 Wolvercote Paper Mill
The first mention of paper-making in or near Oxford is a story of one Edwards, who about 1670 planned to erect a mill at Wolvercote and was encouraged by Fell. In 1718 Hearne the antiquary wrote that ‘some of the best paper in England is made at Wolvercote Mill’. It was bought by the Press in 1870.
The Mill stands on a branch of the Thames, on the edge of the quiet village of Wolvercote, and near the ruins of Godstow Nunnery. The water-wheel has long ceased to play more than a very minor part in the driving of the mill, which now has two modern paper-making machines, 72 and 80 inches wide respectively. The power used is partly steam, but a large part of the plant has quite recently been electrified.
Most varieties of high-class printing paper are made at Wolvercote, which besides feeding the Press does a considerable trade with other printers. The paper made for the Oxford Dictionary and some other books is of the finest rag and is probably as durable as the best hand-made paper of former times. But the Mill is best known for its ‘Bible’ papers, exceptionally thin, tough, and opaque, with a fine printing surface. Paper of this kind reaches its acme in the famous Oxford India Paper, the invention of which made revolutionary changes in the printing of Bibles. A great many Oxford books are now printed in two editions, an ordinary and an India paper. If the saving of space is an important consideration, the convenience of the thinner editions of such books as the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the Concise Dictionary of National Biography, or the Oxford Survey of the British Empire is obvious; and many people like to read the Poets and the Classics in thin and light volumes. The Oxford Homer will go into a pocket, though it has 1,374 pages; and the India paper Shakespeare and Oxford Book of English Verse are delightfully easy to carry and handle.
The Controller of the Mill is Mr. Douglas Clapperton (a name well known in the paper trade), who succeeded Mr. Joseph Castle in 1916.