Odds and quads

This guidance for university tutors is taken from a 1674 book, Firmianus and Dubitantius, which consists of “certain dialogues concerning atheism, infidelity, popery, and other heresies and schisms that trouble the peace of the Church and are destructive of primitive piety”.

September 26, 2013

It claims to be “written in a plain and easy method, for the satisfaction of doubting Christians” by Thomas Good, then master of Balliol College in Oxford. The book is on public display in an exhibition, Domus Scolarium de Balliolo, 1263-2013, in St Cross Church in Oxford, until 12 October. This forms part of the celebrations marking the 750th anniversary of the college’s foundation by John Balliol.

Also shown here is evidence of the central importance of sport in Victorian Oxford: a “river chart” giving the positions of the different colleges at the end of Eights week in 1851; and an illuminated oar celebrating Balliol’s victory in the Visitors’ Challenge Cup at the 1899 Henley Royal Regatta.

Send suggestions for this series on the treasures, oddities and curiosities owned by universities across the world to matthew.reisz@tsleducation.com

Register to continue

Why register?

  • Registration is free and only takes a moment
  • Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
  • Sign up for our newsletter
Register
Please Login or Register to read this article.

Sponsored