From their antiquity, picturesqueness, and historical associations, the Colleges of Oxford have ever held a high position as national monuments, and this has perhaps somewhat overshadowed their peculiar character as living organisms. They are not the relics of a dead past ; they are, as they have been for centuries, the homes of corporate bodies, preserving an unbroken existence. Their home life, indeed, is something sui generis, preserving, as it does, in the ways of the community, as in the architectural shell that contains it, much in common with mediæval England. It is this genius loci that I have endeavoured to reproduce, and to this end I have availed myself of those processes which by the aid of photography have enabled me to repro- duce in reduced facsimile nearly the whole of Loggan's Views of the Colleges (1675), and of the engravings of Bereblock's Views from "Collegiorum Scholarumque Publicarum Academics Oxoniensis Topographica Delineatio" per Thomas Nelum (1566), published by Hearne, 17 13.
Many illustrations have been taken from Skelton's "Oxonia Antigua Restaurata" 1823, and also from Ackerman's "Oxford" when nothing better was to be obtained. These for the most part have been successfully reproduced, by the Ink-photo process of Messrs. Sprague.
The delegates of the press have, with their accustomed courtesy, allowed me to reproduce some of the illustrations from the Oxford Almanacs, and those well-known artists, Messrs. Hills and Saunders, and Messrs. Gillman, have practically allowed me carte blanche to reproduce any of their photographs.
There will thus be found within the covers of this book an absolutely unrivalled collection of views, relative to Oxford and its life.
Nor does even the above list exhaust the wealth of illustration with which this volume is adorned, for all the headpieces and initial letters which were engraved for Wood's "Historia et Antiqaitates Universitatis Oxoniensis" 1674, have been reproduced, while many illustrations from Ingram's "Memorials of Oxford" also appear, with the kindly assent of the publishers, Messrs. Parker & Co., and all those charming College coats of arms, so artistically designed for the Alumni by Mr. J. H. Metcalfe, have been utilized. Further, in the place of tailpieces, illustrations have been substituted of some of those architectural features, etc., which abound in the older Oxford Colleges. These are taken principally from Mackenzie's " Gothic Architecture" Pugin's "Gothic Ornaments" Shaw's " Specimens of Ancient Furniture" Carter's "Specimens of Ancient Sculpture" etc. I should add that to the spirited exertions of my printers, S. Austin and Sons, of Hertford, the public are indebted for the excellent printing of this interesting volume.
I would venture in conclusion to point out that my whole scheme is original in conception, and, by combining "ancient and modern," endeavours to represent " the men" and "their colleges " as they actually are. The fact that, in the compilation of this volume, I have been privileged to enjoy not merely the sympathy but the active assistance of University Officials of all ranks will speak, I trust, for itself, impressing
