TO THE MOST HOLY

AND MOST BLESSED FATHER

AND OUR LORD

POPE SIXTUS V.

An ornate woodcut headpiece features a central winged cherub-like face flanked by elaborate scrolling foliage and floral motifs.

A decorative woodcut drop cap "S" is intricately embellished with vine and leaf patterns.Just as all waters derive from the sea and return to the sea, so too, having issued from the magnanimous hand of Your Holiness are all the magnificent works of architecture described in this present book. It is a very reasonable thing that, having to go out into the public, they should return as a due tribute to you, for an eternal memory of the greatness of your spirit, and of my most humble and most devoted service, employed by Your Blessedness with favors truly most singular in the execution of so many enterprises. And although I am certain that the fame of such marked works, in the company of so many other of your heroic actions, has filled the entire world, I am nonetheless persuaded that it will be of great satisfaction to the desire of those who have not been present, nor can they, on account of the distance, come to see the majesty of so many works, to present them before their eyes as far as art can show them. This, I know for certain, will bring to their souls the greatest pleasure and contentment, and particularly the explanation of the method used in transporting the great Vatican Obelisk, which in this same book is narrated for universal benefit. May Your Holiness be thanked for all these things from which all these works have proceeded, which I now, bowing most humbly to the kissing of your most holy feet, restore to you as due, and dedicate as a devotee, so that our Lord God may long preserve you for His glory and the universal benefit of the holy Church.
The year 1590.