"A little book of art, wherein are included, besides the representations of many clergymen and secular persons of high and low rank, as well as those of the Turkish Emperors and their chief men, all kinds of artistic designs and figures; also the seven planets, the ten ages; cavalry captains and commanding officers; riders and their horses; all sorts of tournaments; swordsmanship and armor. All of it most elegantly and artistically drawn by the late excellent and far renowned Jost Amman of Nuremberg. Now again compiled and offered to all the lovers of painting, in order to please them especially." Thus, this volume of 293 woodcuts, the major achievement of one of the first and greatest masters of the woodcut, Jost Amman (1539-1591), was presented to the aristocrats and patricians and the illustrators and decorators of Germany in 1599. - Back cover.