The Graphic Arts Collection received several thoughtful gifts from Lawrence W. Ray in memory of Dr. Marion Brown and Myrtle (Jean) Williamson. Among them is a miniature copy of The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Holy Communion: The Order of Publick Baptism of Infants; The Order of Confirmation; and Form of Solemnization of Matrimony, According To the Use of the Church of England (Oxford [England]: Printed at the University Press; London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, 1900). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2013- in process.
Here are two explanations of Amen Corner:
Amen Court is a short distance from Paternoster Row, where monks finished their Pater Noster (a Christian prayer) on Corpus Christi Day before walking in procession to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The ritual started at Paternoster Row, with the monks reciting the Lord’s prayer in Latin to the end of the street. When they reached the corner or bottom of the Row they said ‘Amen’.
and in an history of the Oxford Press:
“The publications of the Oxford University Press are familiar in every part of the world, but only the vaguest ideas obtain as to the Institution itself. It was with the hope of gaining more information … I called upon Mr. Henry Frowde at the Warehouse, Amen Corner. … The popular publisher to the University was born in 1841. He entered the service of the Religious Tract Society in 1857, and subsequently had considerable experience in the Bible and Prayer.”
“Book business. At the close of 1873 he was invited by the Delegates of the Press to undertake the management of their London businesses, which included the Oxford University Press Warehouse, at 7 Paternoster Row, and the binding business at Barbican. He entered upon his new duties on March 25, 1874. At that time the learned and educational publications of the Clarendon Press were issued by Messrs. Macmillan, but in June 1880, the Delegates of the Press transferred them to their own warehouse at 7 Paternoster Row, and appointed Mr. Frowde “Publisher to the University.” The publishing business was subsequently removed to Amen Corner, and the binding business to Aldersgate Street, and Mr. Frowde opened wholesale branches in Edinburgh and Glasgow.”
“Publishers of To-Day, The Oxford University Press,” in The Publisher, Volume 10, Issue 63 (1895)
