In 1984 the Press celebrated 400 years of continuous printing and publishing. This history, now published as a paperback, provides a readable introduction to that unique period, with a foreword by Gordon Johnson which comments on the continuing achievement of the Press. The story is of the development of the printing and publishing arm of the University of Cambridge, from the medieval system of resident stationers to the modern international printing and publishing house. The narrative is set within the development of the University; in the history of the book trade as a whole; and in the intellectual and political history of England.

The third and final volume of A History of Cambridge University Press, covering 1873-1972.