Fac-simile of the title page of the Book of Prayers issued by P. Ocharte, in the City of Mexico, in 1567. Size reduced. THE ENGRAVINGS IN EARLY PRAYER BOOKS. THE story of the illustration of forms of ritual need not be a long one, as the only Prayer Books that contain engravings are those of the Latin and the American Episcopal Churches. In Mexico, books were ornamented from wood cuts as early as 1543. Nearly all publications of any importance published in that country in the sixteenth century had engraved title pages. The designs of the artists, as seen in the borders of the pages, ran to fruits and flowers, cherubs, crosses and various ecclesiastical symbols. In the body of the books were distinctive pictures of the subject treated of in the text. The "Missal Romanum," published by Antonio de Espinosa in 1561, is an excellent sample of the illustrated books of that century. Its engraved title page, printed in red and black, its pictured leaf, with God, the angels, the prophets and doctors of the Church, forming a decorated border, and last of all its representation of the Crucifixion, indicate the plan of illustrating devotional books in that day. In the volume entitled, "Incipiunt Hore Beate Marie, virginis, secundus ordinem Fratru Predicatorum," from the press of Petrus Ocharte, in 1567, the same artistic line is followed, as seen in the ornate title page. After the sixteenth century both the arts of printing and engraving suffered from decadence in Mexico. In the United States the earliest service books of the Latin Church printed in this country were illustrated with wood engravings. The first book of this kind was "The Garden of the Soul," printed in 18mo by Joseph Cruikshank, of Philadelphia, in 1770 or 1774. It has but one picture, and that a wood cut of the Crucifixion. It is crude and simple, and the artist did not attach his signature. In 1774, Robert Bell, also of Philadelphia, printed a book entitled, "A Manual of Catholic Prayers.' This limited its engravings to a single representation of the Crucifixion, facing the title page. 'True Piety," a book of prayers printed by Warner & Hanna, of Baltimore, in 18mo, in 1809, has also a wood impression of the Crucifixion. "The Christian's Monitor," a manual of devotions edited by Rev. William Taylor, of St. Patrick's Cathedral, was published by W. H. Creagh, of New York, in |