P. Robert Olivetanus, the humble and lowly Translator,
to the Church of Jesus Christ: Greeting.

The good custom has obtained from all antiquity that those who bring some book into public view—whether they have compiled it by their own industry and invention, or have translated it from one language into another—come to dedicate and present it to some Prince, King, Emperor, or Monarch, or, if there is some Majesty more sovereign still, to that one. And they do this (as they well know how to say): so that the work may be found more freely and boldly in the hands of men, as having a safe-conduct and being placed under the safeguard of the Prince to whom it is offered and dedicated. And this we see being done and practiced day after day.