On 22 October 1669, he was sent for by the delegates of the press, "that whereas he had taken a great deal of paines in writing the "Hist. and Antiq. of the Universitie of Oxon", they would for his paines give him an 100 li. for his copie, conditionally, that he would suffer the book to be translated into Latine". He accepted the offer and set to work to prepare his English manuscript for the translators, Richard Peers and Richard Reeve, both appointed by Dr Fell, Dean of Christ Church, who undertook the expense of printing. In 1674 appeared "Historia, et antiquitates Universitatis Oxoniensis", handsomely reprinted "e Theatro Sheldoniano" in two folio volumes, the first devoted to the university in general and the second to the colleges. Copies were widely distributed, and university and author received much praise; in the following year the magnificent series of illustrations linked to the history were separately published as David Loggan's "Oxonia Illustrata", which contained instructions on where to insert the plates in Wood's history; copies of the history 'with the cuts' became a special gift object for noble visitors to the University. Wood was disappointed with the Latin translation, and Bishop Barlow told a correspondent that "not only the Latine but the history itself is in many things ridiculously false". Despite the carping, Wood's meticulously researched text, with extensive footnotes to original sources, remains a worthy successor to Dugdale's work which had been his inspiration.