[Chilean xylographic prints]

4 prints on 2 sheets : individual images 8.0 x 7.8 cm, on sheets 8.0 x 15.8 cm Summary: four woodcut engravings contain images within ornamental borders from upper left to bottom right. The first depicts the vision of Saint Francis of Assisi in which the saint is followed by a flying cherub and a small cherub with a skull in his hands while Francis sees the fiery seraph angel in the upper right hand corner; the second depicts Saint John the Evangelist who sits beneath two clouds with a bird to his left and holding a pen and a book; the third depicts Saint Luke the Evangelist who sits under two clouds with a bull to his left; and the fourth depicts the Archangel Michael surrounded by flames holding a spear which is embedded in the snake beneath him Title supplied by cataloguer Although Medina dates the origins of printing in Chile to 1780, the Swiss Jesuit, Antonio Huopnder discovered documents demonstrating that the first printing press in Chile actually was established in 1748. Guillermo Fúrlong, in his Origenes del arte tipográfico en América, pages 107-110, claims that these xylographs were among the first to be printed in Chile, stating that they were produced on a xylographic plate. Fúrlong owned a set of the same four which had been separated and included at the end of a manuscript dated 1754 in Chile These four images represent a deep impression embossing on paper from the woodblock Purchase; 20-097