Produced for a 'Biblia Innocentium' by J W Mackail (his son in law) for which over 200 pictures were originally planned. They were never finished and when the book was published by the Kelmscott Press in 1892 it had no illustrations. After Burne-Jones's death however 25 illustrations were found and reproduced as wood cuts with the help of Robert Catterson-Smith who had worked with Burne-Jones on the Kelmscott Chaucer (1896). These designs were published by Longmans in 1902 and there is a reprint of 1972.
These four designs are unlike any of those used in 1902 and are either first ideas or were to be inter-spaced with those eventually reproduced.
The designs were made for a Biblia Innocentium by J.W.MacKail (Burne-Jones's son-in-law), for which "upwards of two hundred pictures" were originally planned. They were never completed, and the book had no illustrations when it was published by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press in 1892. After Burne-Jones's death, however, twenty-five of the designs were found to be sufficiently advanced for them to be reproduced as woodcuts with the help of Robert Catterson-Smith, who had worked with Burne-Jones on the illustrations to the Kelmscott Chaucer (1896). These designs were published by Longmans in 1902 and there is a modern reprint (1972). The present drawings do not correspond closely with the published illustrations and the design of "The Fall of the Morning Star" does not re-appear at all. in fact few drawings for the Biblia Innocentium seem to survive, so these provide a rare insight into the project's development. Christie's 1992