,
under a woodcut [2] of St. Dominic, with the verso originally blank,
but in this copy bearing the contemporary manuscript inscription,
_Tassada en dos rreales_, signed _Juan de Cuellar_; and seventy-four
pages of text in Spanish, Tagalog transliterated into roman letters,
and Tagalog in Tagalog characters. The size of the volume, which
is unbound, is 9 1/8 by 7 inches, although individual leaves vary
somewhat due to chipping. Some of the leaves have become separated
from their complements, but enough remain in the original stitching
to indicate that the book was originally made up in four gatherings,
the first of twelve leaves, the second of ten, the third of ten, and
the fourth of six. Although the book is of the size called quarto,
the method of printing must have been page by page, so it is doubtful
that each sheet was folded twice in the usual quarto manner, but
more probable that it was printed four pages to a sheet of paper
approximately 9 1/8 by 14 inches, which was folded once.

The volume is printed throughout by the xylographic method, that is to
say, each page of text is printed from one wood-block which was carved
by hand. Along the inner margins of some pages are vertical lines which
were made by the inked edge of the block, and the grain of the wood has
caused striations to appear in the printed portions throughout. The
unevenness of the impression indicates that the pages were printed
in some primitive manner without the help of a conventional press.

The paper, which is one of the distinctive features of most old
Oriental books, has been discussed at length by Pardo de Tavera in
his study of early Philippine printing, and we can do no better than
translate the relevant passage in full:

"I have said before that the material composition of our
books is inferior. The imprints before 1830 were made on a
paper called by some rice paper, by others silk paper, and
by still others China paper, according to their taste. It
is detestable, brittle, without consistency or resistance,
and was called rice paper because it was supposed to be
made from that grain. It was the only kind then used in the
Philippines, not only for printing, but for all manner of
writing, letters, etc., and it is even recorded that in 1874
when tobacco was a state monopoly, cigarettes were made with
this paper, and that the Indians and Chinese preferred it
(and perhaps they still do) t