THE MAYORS OF THE CITY OF AMSTERDAM.

MR. JAN VAN DE POLL, J.U.D.

MR. JAN SIX,

MR. LIEVE GEELVINK, J.U.D.

MR. WILLEM MUNTER, J.U.D.

An ornamental initial 'I' is decorated with scrolling foliage and floral patterns.

I pray, kindly allow me to dedicate to your Most Noble and Honorable Lordships this immortal work, designed and perfected by a citizen of Amsterdam, in that same city! Because it belonged solely to your Lordships by right, and also because it was originally prepared under your encouragement and protection.

Certainly, the excellent creator of this book would have dedicated it to no one else, had Heaven permitted his plan: for he himself dedicated the first beginnings of such a difficult undertaking, in the year sixteen hundred and sixty-nine, to the four Gentlemen, the reigning Mayors of this glorious city. Therefore, I thought it my duty to follow the intention of that high-minded man in this matter as well. I have hoped that your Most Noble and Honorable Lordships would be willing to accept this work, now completely perfected, with the same kindness with which your Honorable ancestors received its rough drafts.

Yet I must also confess that I thought, from my own motivation, how it might not be entirely displeasing if I dared to offer this same book to the Mayors of Amsterdam: noting how every Dutchman knows with what great zeal those gentlemen put everything into the work of glorifying the true fame of a city that excels so high above all others. And what else could it boast of more than that it has brought forth and nourished a man who, solely for his merits, is honored and celebrated by all wise men, wherever they may live in the known world?