The Oxford Bookstore, formerly known as Oxford Bookstore and Stationery Company, is an Indian book store chain established in 1919. It has no connection with

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. Its outlets, on prime locations in the high streets of most of the major cities of the Raj such as

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Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

(2006) and

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, are well known even today. Still known as the Oxford Bookstores, the outlets are now managed by the

Apeejay Surrendra Group The Apeejay Surrendra Group is an Indian business conglomerate, established in 1910 in Jalandhar by Lala Pyare Lal. Later, in 1951, the headquarters were relocated to Kolkata. Surrendra Paul was chairman from 1982 until his murder in 1989. Mo ...

, a

-based conglomerate, while the book wholesaling business has been merged with

India Book House India Book House Pvt. Limited (IBH) is an importer, distributor and publisher of books and magazines in India. Formed in 1952, India Book House published paperback editions of children's authors such as Enid Blyton and Frederick Forsyth, as well ...

to become Oxford and IBH.

Name

Oxford University Press came to India in 1912, and learned of the existence of the Oxford Bookstores shortly after they were set up in 1919. They had a brief legal tussle over the use of the

telegraphic address A telegraphic address or cable address was a unique identifier code for a recipient of telegraph messages. Operators of telegraph services regulated the use of telegraphic addresses to prevent duplication. Rather like a uniform resource locator ...

'Oxonian', but in general tolerated and even encouraged the firm, giving them special terms for OUP and Clarendon Press titles. ‘An enterprising firm, certainly good at display,’

Humphrey Sumner Milford Sir Humphrey Sumner Milford (8 February 1877 – 6 September 1952) was an English publisher and editor who from 1913 to 1945 was publisher to the University of Oxford and head of the London operations of Oxford University Press (OUP). Overview In ...

, Publisher to the University, commented to Sir Maurice Gwyer. OUP had taken legal advice and been told that the geographical identifier ‘Oxford’ carried no protection unless teamed with ‘University’ or ‘Press’; and if any two words of the name were used they could ‘jump in with both feet’, as Milford said, and prosecute for trademark violation. The Press had been able to stifle the activities of the University of Oxford, Tennessee, without too much trouble, but marmalade,

sausages A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with Edible salt, salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or ex ...

and shoes could all call themselves ‘Oxford’ with impunity. Milford encouraged Oxford Bookstores because he felt their ‘enterprise’ deserved it, and since they were not publishers their operations actually helped OUP, and the confusion over who owned the Oxford Bookstores may have acted in OUP's advantage.

History

The Oxford Bookstore was a landmark in Calcutta during the days of the Raj, along with Whiteaway Laidlaw's famous departmental store. Like most bookshops of the time, the store also stocked fancy leather goods, toys, perfume, albums, photo frames, indoor games, playing cards and silver and electroplated goods. It features in the memoirs of many eminent British and Indian figures of the twentieth century, and has always played a part in the city's life. In the 1970s, during the

Naxalite Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Inspired by Maoism, Charu Majumdar wrote the Historic Eight ...

rising, it was used as a message drop-off point by activists, who would slip notes into particular books for other members of their group to find.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford Bookstore And Stationery Company Bookstores of India Retail companies established in 1920 Companies based in Kolkata Indian companies established in 1920