Vivian Ridler, who has died aged 95, was printer to the University of Oxford from 1958 until 1978, and perhaps the outstanding holder of this prestigious post since academic printing began in Oxford in 1478 (two years after William Caxton set up his press). Only 11 years after his retirement, the delegates of the Oxford University Press (of which printing was then a part) decided that they no longer needed their own printing house.
Ridler was born in Cardiff, but the family soon moved to Bristol. He was still a boy when he first showed an interest in printing. He saw an advertisement in Meccano magazine for a small Adana press, bought one and set off on his fine career. He knew David Bland, the son of a local vicar, and the two teenagers printed in the cellar of the vicarage as the Perpetua Press. Sometimes the demand on the local electricity meant there could be printing or street lighting, but not both. Their Fifteen Old Nursery Rhymes was chosen in the mid-1930s as one of the 50 best books of the year, an early recognition of their talent.
Ridler went to Bristol grammar school (later he was an unlikely president of the Old Boys) and served a short apprenticeship as a printer with Robinson's, the large Bristol packaging firm. In 1936, he went to Oxford to work under John Johnson at the University Press. This failed, so he went to manage the Bunhill Press for Theodore Besterman, the Voltaire scholar. During the second world war, he served in the RAF in the Orkneys, west Africa and Germany, finishing as a squadron leader.
It was through his Faber & Faber connections that Ridler met and, in 1938, married Anne Bradby, secretary to TS Eliot and a niece of Sir Humphrey Milford, the OUP's London publisher. So when Charles Batey, who succeeded Johnson as Oxford's printer in 1946, asked Ridler to become his works manager, Anne was cautious because of the family connection with OUP. But her husband took up the post in 1948 and earned the respect of the conservative, but very competent, workforce, which then numbered 900.
It soon recognised Ridler's qualities. He was experienced, a good designer, had a good war record, was firm and fair and only lost his temper on purpose. And he walked to the shop early each morning. He once gave a brilliant lecture, the Bed-Motion of Letterpress Machines, and quickly showed his feeling for Oxford's printing history by mounting a fine exhibition to mark the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Ridler succeeded Batey as printer and retired in 1978, the year when the quincentenary of printing at Oxford was marked so magnificently. Millions of books bore his imprint "printer to the University of Oxford", and sometimes he received letters addressed to the "printer to the universe".
Great books in his time included The Tournament Roll (1966) of the College of Heralds; Stanley Morison's John Fell and the Fell Types (1967); facsimiles of TS Eliot's The Waste Land (1971) for Faber (which involved his wife and Valerie Eliot, Eliot's successive secretaries) and of the Constable Sketchbooks (1973) for the V&A; and many fine volumes for members of the Roxburghe club. This was in addition to mass production of bibles and reference books, short-run academic titles and examination papers.
Ridler pioneered many technical developments. The press then was probably the most versatile bookhouse in the world. He was mainly responsible for the appointment of John Fryman as the press's architect. Together they planned the fine extensions of 1967-68, which gave the printers a proper factory and more space for the fast-expanding publishers.
While the closure of the university's printing house in 1989 was a great sadness, Ridler was realistic. It was always difficult to be a profitable book printer, especially in a tied house. Meanwhile the OUP no longer needed many of the services its printer had supplied, and technology was changing quickly. The OUP had never been as loyal to its printer as at Cambridge and, with the expansion of its profitable publishing, the OUP used its connections with the cheap printing that was increasingly available. The closure meant the expanded premises could eventually house more than 1,000 publishing staff.
Ridler was the only university printer to become president of the Master Printers Federation. A witty speaker, he often resolved awkward situations through humour. When at the Henley Business College, speaking on behalf of the students on his course, he caused the principal to fall out of his seat laughing, breaking his chair. A former president of the Double Crown club, he was well respected throughout the trade in Britain, and abroad. He was appointed a CBE in 1971.
In Oxford, he was invited to become a fellow of St Edmund Hall. He revived the Perpetua press imprint, printing beautiful work until his 80s, and publishing continued, including The Poems of Rowan Williams (2002) which the archbishop dedicated to Anne.
Bodley's librarian staged an exhibition last month of a selection of Christmas cards which had been sent to him, and this was a wonderful opportunity, in the beautiful Divinity school, for many of us to see him for the last time.
His marriage to Anne, which lasted for 63 years until she died in 2001, was a wonderful combination of their many talents, skills and virtues. Their two sons, two daughters, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, survive him. He adored his family, and they adored him.
• Vivian Hughes Ridler, printer, born 2 October 1913; died 11 January 2009
