Dedicatory Letter.

The University; original: "Academia" but by this aid we hope that she, now deservedly restored, will finally be the Nurturing and fruitful mother of many books, and will produce an offspring more enduring than her own youth. Alma Mater; literally "Nurturing Mother," a common personification of a university This is an offspring of a happy fate, which repays its parent in kind; through this child, the mother herself is reborn as often as she gives birth, and whom she brings into the light with no pain or danger of childbirth, since the laboring mother has nothing to fear for her own life, provided she is concerned for her reputation.

This University and the scholars of Oxford owe this happiness to Your Mercy, from whose generosity we have received whatever previous ages could have hoped for, or future ages could bestow: For your Theater has provided that the sciences might dwell nowhere more majestically, and the printing press will ensure that they are eternal. The "Theater" refers to the Sheldonian Theatre, funded by Gilbert Sheldon and completed in 1669; it originally housed the University's printing presses. As for our writer, such was not his arrogance that he wished to cause delay to those printing types destined for matters of greater importance; and the University will certainly grant this to the great liberality of its Patron, that it may diligently ensure that no...