The first installment of a collection of artistic depictions of biblical scenes with explanatory commentary by Kuyper. This installment contains a half title and a title page (bifolium), an introduction (two bifoliums), three pages of text, and reproductions (photogravures in mezzotint) of three paintings by the Spanish painter José Villegas (1848–1922). The format of the work is impressive in every respect.

In the preface Kuyper—who was an emeritus professor of aesthetics—reflects on the interaction between the sacred text and the artistic imagination. After briefly assessing the historical schools of biblical illumination, he discusses three great Dutch biblical illustrators of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Romeyn de Hooghe, Jan Luyken, and Pieter de Hondt. He closes by explaining the order of the reproductions, which do not appear in the chronological order of the biblical stories (see 1912.21).

The collection was published in twenty-four monthly installments. Eight installments were published in 1910, the next ten were published in 1911, and the final six were published by the middle of 1912. For the complete collection, see 1912.13.