The book begins with seventy-two questions, some of a general philosophical or political nature and others more relevant to daily life. Choosing a question, the reader is directed to one of the twelve nude women who symbolize Fortune, each one catching a different wind in her drapery, sails, or hair as she glides over uncertain seas. From there the reader is directed to these stylized representations of Renaissance palaces, bearing the names of twelve of Italy's foremost noble families, and to one of the letters that appears beneath them. The letter indicated instructs the reader to turn to one of the wheels of fortune depicted in subsequent pages.

When the reader reaches the indicated page, a choice must be made between two wheels. The upper one represents all the possible combinations (twenty-one) to result from a throw of the dice, while the lower is bordered by the first twenty-one hours of the day. If no dice are handy—and it's not too late at night—the seeker can turn to the lower wheel and choose the segment that corresponds to the current hour.

The pages representing wheels are bordered by eight alternating frames containing a series of musicians, astronomers, artists, writers, popes, rulers, and other distinguished figures of the past and present, labeled differently at each appearance. Among the artists named are Andrea Mantegna, Raphael of Urbino, and Baldassare Peruzzi, the designer of the frontispiece. On the page shown here, at right, the astronomer and artist are identified respectively as the book's author, Sigismondo Fanti, and the painter Dosso Dossi (died 1542), who was also from Ferrara and who has been plausibly credited with the design of the figural borders.

From the wheels of fortune, the reader is directed to a specific city name within a cited sphere. Four different designs alternate as frames for these "spheres," one of which pairs a sculptor at work with an architect, book beneath his arm, who points proudly to a grand building. In the first appearance of this border, shown here at right, the sculptor is identified as Michelangelo and the architect as Vitruvius, the author of the only treatise on architecture surviving from antiquity.

The central medallions change with every page. Here we see, at left, the chariot of Saturn, and at right the chariot of Jove—the Italian name for Jupiter, one of the seven known planets and the chief god of the classical pantheon. Jupiter, in the aspect of a medieval king, is attended by his cupbearer, the Trojan prince Ganymede.