The Press was run as a commercial enterprise. It competed successfully for suitable outside work to run in conjunction with its primary role as a publisher and printer of Christian literature. The latter was charged at 40 per cent discount, which meant it was produced at cost price.
Seventy-five per cent of the profits were sent back to the Baptist Missionary Society in the UK and the other twenty-five per cent were distributed among the workers, yearly. This did not include the Superintendents who were on normal missionary salaries, not paid by the Press, but by the Baptist Mission Society in the UK.
When Rev. Percy Knight (who came from a family firm of printers in Derby) was Superintendent, he worked out Provident Fund rules which were so balanced and agreeable that the West Bengal Government took it over and based their Provident Fund on what Baptist Mission Press had worked out. In fact right up to this day, I think that is so now. It was all based on what Baptist Mission Press had done. (Bernard Ellis, August 1980)
The commercial work included:
University examination papers.
These were printed for universities all over India and were produced in a department called the Confidential Department. Only press employees knew of its existence. This was the most profitable part of the Press. Every piece of paper was counted in and every piece of paper was counted out. The security of the system was never compromised.'Indian Print and Paper'.
This was the trade magazine of the Indian printing and paper industries. It was edited and published first by Norman Ellis, and then by Bernard Ellis, and was printed and bound at the Press.'B. I. News'.
This was the 'in-house' magazine of the British India Steam Navigation Company and came out monthly. B.I. has been described as one of the largest shipowners of all time. At its height, in 1922, it owned 500 ships and managed 150 more for other owners. It was owned and run by Mackinnon Mackenzie whose headquarters were on Strand Road, Calcutta. B.I. primarily carried cargo around the Bay of Bengal, the Gulf and to Australia. The Company was eventually amalgamated with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company which carried passengers between the UK, India, and Australia. We now know it as P&O.'Oxford University Press'
'They (the Press) did a lot with Oxford University Press, in fact they put out some of the most valuable publications that Oxford University Press had printed in Calcutta.'
(Bernard Ellis, 16th August 1980).
To quote from the 1964-65 report to the BMS: 'During that year, the Press distributed or sold 74,771 pieces of Christian literature, for Baptist Mission Press, the Baptist Missionary Society, Scripture Gift Mission of India, and Calcutta Christian Tract and Book Society.
Included in the list of general work completed was:
A 664 page book, 'Animal Gametes' for the Zoology Dept. of the Government of India.
The 'Life of Sir Arthur Cotton' (564 pages, 18 illustrations and a dust jacket in four colours). It was out of print in England and was reprinted by the Institute of Engineers; it is a classic for engineers in India.
The Sara New Testament, in international phonetic script, was delivered, with three key publications in Lushai: 'The story of the Hebrew prophets'; 'The history of the Hebrews and their religion'; and 'The Work of the Holy Spirit', reprints being ordered almost at once.
'The Gospel of Mark' in Kui demanded the cutting of special characters.
'I Corinthians' in Bengali,
'Ananda Sangit' in Bengali,
Kumaon parables,
Nepali parables,
'In the beginning, God' in English, Oriya, Hindi and Gurmukhi (separate editions),
'St Matthew' and 'The Book of Genesis' in Tibetan.
Work continued on the 'Anal Hymnal' for Assam.
A 212 page text book on 'Nanpung Algebra', for a customer in Manipur State, was an unusual piece of work.The Press received regular print and block orders from Christian organizations elsewhere in Manipur and when the Annual Report was being prepared, the Press was producing passports for the Government of Bhutan - the country which Dr William Carey hoped to include in his work, early in the last century.
The Press was responsible for printing - and helping with the editorship - of the 'Himalayan Journal', with its worldwide circulation among mountaineers.
Printing was completed, as usual, of school magazines for Woodstock (Mussoorie), St Paul's (Darjeeling), Sherwood College (Naini Tal) and Modern Girl's High School (Calcutta), the latter in English and Hindi.
Various books were sent to the National Book Exhibition, in Delhi, and to the Publishers' Exhibition, Bombay.
The Press reprinted Bevan Jones 'People of the Mosque'. The cost of the paper was covered by a generous gift from the managing director of a Brisbane firm of printers, in appreciation of 'Service Forum', the Christian quarterly printed by Baptist Mission Press for the National Christian Council of India and distributed to 30 countries. The readership was intended for the benefit of Christian presses and publishing agencies.One of the oldest scientific organizations in the far East was the Asiatic Society, founded by Sir William Jones, and later to become the Royal Asiatic Society. Not only did the Press handle most of their scientific publications but there was a tradition, whereby the Superintendent of BMP was invited on their Publications Committee, on which there were leading scientific writers, all Indian.
There were other organizations which valued BMP and its long-standing service to India: Calcutta University Press Advisory Committee; School of Printing Technology; West Bengal Government Press Production Committee were only three. There were so many other committees, chiefly connected with the Church, from work among Telegus to theology.
The Second World War affected Baptist Mission Press greatly. It barely survived due to the shortage of materials caused by the war.
Norman Ellis joined the Indian Army, did officer training at Bangalore, and served in Burma. He caught dysentry during the War and suffered from the after-effects for the rest of his life.
Bernard Ellis was working as a commercial representative for a firm of blockmakers in Calcutta before the War, with digs at the manse next door to the Press. He returned to England and signed up as a private with the Sherwood Foresters. His regiment was moved to India where he was stationed at the Red Fort, Delhi. Bernard was promoted to Captain and seconded to the Chindits in Burma as a Military Observer. He was part of Lord Louis Mountbatten's headquarters staff and was responsible for handling Fleet Street reporters from the national newspapers. He was promoted to Major and followed, and reported on, the successful Allied push to Rangoon that expelled the Japanese from Burma.
After the War Superintendent Bingham, who had run the Press during the War, returned to England. Norman Ellis was asked by the Indian Army to write the official Indian Army account of the War, but he chose instead to return to Baptist Mission Press as Superintendent. He needed an assistant and in 1947 Bernard Ellis joined him at Baptist Mission Press.
'We were making 10 to 12 thousand pounds a year profit... clear profit to the Society. All the (property?) was restored. There were new customers. We'd got a new Linotype put in and some more new machinery. Everything was working like clockwork. It was an ABSOLUTELY GOING ENTERPRISE again. It had been all the time your Uncle Norman was there. Some years they might make £14,000 a year profit, which is a large amount of money for a big press. It all came back to the Society. It doesn't sound much now but it was a lot of money then. 10 to 12 thousand we were making regularly. If the Society got into trouble, you know, or showing a deficit, then I used to go into it with Suresh. He knew more about money than I did. Suresh Babu, Head of the Confidential Department. "Have we got any in the reserve fund that we can make available to the Society because they are in dire...?" "Oh yes we can spare so much out of such a fund." "OK, we'll tell 'em." and so on and so forth.'
(Bernard Ellis, 17th August 1980)
Note: Bernard and Norman Ellis were on normal missionary salaries and were paid no more than any other missionary, despite directly employing 300 people.
In 1972 the Government of India changed the law so that the Press had to keep seventy-five per cent of its profits within India. It closed shortly after.
