Because of the quality of William Kurelek’s paintings and the religious intensity of the visions of the Nativity as it might have happened in Canada in the 1930s, the publishers felt that each illustration should be contemplated the way an individual painting is (here framed in white). The book is at once an art book, a religious book, and a children’s book. The high cost of the twenty large reproductions, the fine quality paper, and a good trade binding was spread over a 15,000 printing so that the final book could sell under $10.00.