Cosmographiae totius compendiosa et dilucida explicatio

we suffer, to our own sorrow, from a scarcity of copies. If my conjecture does not deceive me, the fault for this situation must be attributed to the various upheavals with which the entire world almost resounds today. All places are ablaze with civil wars to such an extent that in most areas, a guest is hardly safe from a host, and the usual freedom of traveling back and forth has been snatched away from merchants, surely to the great detriment of excellent literature, which, just as it is nurtured most by leisure and thrives in peace, so it lies prostrate in deep silence amid the clamor of arms and lies unkempt and squalid.

Indeed, lest we be completely idle and sluggish in this leisure that God, the best and greatest, has granted us above other nations through His mercy, we had to adopt another plan. For while I was reflecting on these things, this little book happened to fall into our hands, written in French some years ago by a certain G. Terraube and dedicated to the King of France, Henry II. Upon the advice of most learned men, who are also my very close friends, I rendered it into Latin so that it might be used by you more conveniently.