A Tale of Two Pictorials

While creating the book Treasure and Tradition, I spent an enormous amount of time and energy seeking the most beautiful and relevant illustrations for each concept I sought to illuminate. In the throes of this diligent effort, in 2013, I happened to come across a most incredible and beautiful book, a French illustrated catechism from 1893, which was the source for this illustration to the right. Then, upon completing Treasure and Tradition, I desperately sought to find an original lithograph copy of that book to potentially reprint it… Unfortunately, these volumes were exceptionally rare, found only in European archives. It was a very large format book in order to accomodate the incredible amount of detail in each didactic illustration...and the only ones available in the US were black and white reproductions, held mostly in libraries…

Now, after 15 years as an erstwhile publisher, I often look back and laugh at how many times, while frantically seeking one very specific thing, I would uncover a breadcrumb trail leading to another. The search for this Victorian Catechisme en Images led me to an earlier publication by that same name. And I fell in love with its sumptuous engravings.

I began researching it. Published in 1861, it had received wide acclamation from the secular art world despite its unabashed Catholicism. Unlike the fussy complication of the late Victorian volume I had been seeking, each page contained one simple yet exquisite illustration that sought to firmly plant each basic teaching of the Catechism into a scriptural framework. This graphical encapsulation of the Creed and Commandments, the fundamental prayers of the Church, and the Virtues and Works of Mercy, sought to meet the needs of a largely illiterate population…and since it could be printed economically, it was made widely available. I sought to do the same.

I spent countless hours in Photoshop, carefully restoring each of its 112 illustrations and pairing them with other graphic elements from books of a similar period to create a more coherent visual layout. A friend helped me translate the French text, and I even found an English version in the University of Notre Dame library which helped me to rearrange the somewhat disorganized topics in the French version into a more streamlined volume.

We initially produced the final synthesis in December of 2015 as a paperback volume that I hoped could double as a coloring book. But our customer feedback told us that these engravings deserved better treatment, so in late 2016 we reprinted A Pictorial Catechism with a hard cover.

However... it was while I was feverishly working to prepare that first paperback version, that I happened to come across what quickly became perhaps my favorite of all our books. I love telling this story, because it is so comically indicative of how God often has me literally trip over things He wants me to reprint. First He thwarted my search for that gorgeous lithograph Catechism and replaced it with something more suited to my capabilities…then He threw something at me from completely out of left field.

I happened to be perusing eBay one day, looking for something that wasn't even related to books. But as many of you are well aware, most selling platforms like eBay know perfectly well what you most often look for, and at the bottom of each search page, it provides items “suggested for you.” That day an item in that panoply happened to catch my eye: a book entitled “An Alphabet of the Altar.” Well, that sounded interesting…so I clicked on the link.

I nearly fell off my chair when I saw images of the pages inside this book. I think I probably would have paid any asking price, no matter how unreasonable. All I wanted to know was how soon I could have this incredible treasure in my hands, and get it back in print.

And fortunately, An Alphabet of the Altar and its frothy, exuberant illustrations were in exceptional condition and needed very little cleanup and restoration. There was no text that needed type setting, no complicated research had to be done in order to rebuild it…the only slightly complicated thing I did (besides creating a pastiche with one of the interior illustrations for the foil stamping on the cover) was to match the ink color with the original. It may have originally been black, but it had faded to a scrumptious chocolate brown which I chose to retain, along with a creamy thick ivory paper. What a luscious confection this book is! And it has been no surprise that our customers have devoured it.

And now you have a chance to win a copy of both books! To enter our giveaway, simply follow our Instagram profile @staugustineacademypress, like our Tale of Two Pictorials giveaway post, and tag three friends in the comment section! This giveaway is open to US Residents (we love our international customers, but sadly overseas shipping has grown prohibitively expensive!) and will close this Friday, June 14th at 11:59 PM Central Time.