A woodcut headpiece features symmetrical foliate scrolls, acanthus leaves, and a central mask.

BROTHER SEBASTIAN MÜNSTER,

MINORITE, TO THE CANDIDATES

of the Hebrew language, greetings.

A large historiated woodcut initial 'N' depicts three figures, possibly putti or children, amongst dense classical foliage and architectural elements.

It does not escape me that there are some who believe that there is no need for instruction, but only for the reading of the Old Testament to acquire skill in the Hebrew language. However, I disagree with them far and wide. For just as he arrives more certainly and easily at his destination to whom the path has been shown beforehand, so too will he learn the language with less labor who has first been instructed by brief rules. A certain Rabbi subscribes to this opinion of ours, whom the most learned father Caspar Ammonius mentions in his grammar, in these words:

A circular ink stamp on the right margin, likely an institutional library mark, contains a stylized symbol or numeral.