Dury became deputy librarian of the King's Library in St. James's
Palace, it has been assumed that he probably wrote the pamphlet as a
form of self-promotion to secure the job. An anonymous article in _The
Library_ in 1892, for instance, speculates that the pamphlet may have
been "composed for the special purpose of the Author's advancement" and
that Milton and Samuel Hartlib urged its production "to forward his
claims" while the Council of State was debating what to do with Charles
I's books.[8] Certainly the final sentence of the tract, with its
references to "the Hous" and "the Counsels of leading men in this
Common-wealth" (p. 31), suggests a connection with the debate, but the
tone of religious zeal that permeates the work, and especially the
second letter, seems to transcend any specific occasion. Moreover,
Hartlib, Dury's longtime friend and associate in millenarian causes and
the recipient and editor of these letters, claims that they and the
other, disparate works he selected for the volume are all "_fruits of
som of my Solicitations and Negotiations for the advancement of
Learning_" and as such "_are but preparatives towards that perfection
which wee may exspect by the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ,
wherein the Communion of Saints, by the graces of the Spirit, will
swallow up all these poor Rudiments of knowledg, which wee now grope
after by so manie helps_" (sig. A2r-v).

There is, in fact, no way of knowing with certainty if Dury's motives
were "impure," especially since the exact date of the tract cannot be
determined, no entry existing for it in the Stationers' Register.
According to one of Dury's biographers, but with no reference to source,
the pamphlet was printed by William Dugard "shortly after" the latter's
release from prison in the early spring of 1650.[9] The Calendar of
State Papers and the records of Bulstrode Whitelocke indicate that Dury
was not officially considered for the library post before late summer