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font-family: serif;} + +/* page number */ +span.pagenum {font-size: small; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; +text-align: right; text-indent: 0;} + +/* Transcriber's Note */ +.mynote {font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 92%;} +div.mynote {margin: 1em 5%; padding: .5em 1em 1em;} +div.mynote a {text-decoration: none;} + +div.endnote {padding: .5em 1em 1em; margin: 1em; border: 3px ridge #A9F; +font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 90%;} + +@media print { + .screenstyle {display: none;} + body {margin-left: 2%; margin-right: 2%;} + a {text-decoration: none; color: inherit;} + div.maintext {page-break-before: always;} + div.verse, p.synopsis {page-break-inside: avoid;} + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {page-break-after: avoid;} + p.caption, p.leftside, p.rightside {page-break-before: avoid;} + span.pagenum {position: static; float: right; width: auto; + margin-right: -10%;} + ins.correction, a.error {background-color: #CCC;} + ins.correction {border-bottom: none;} +} + +@media screen { + span.pagenum {position: absolute; right: 2%;} + .mynote ins.correction, a.error {border-bottom: 1px dotted red;} +} +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div class = "mynote"> +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html">Introduction</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#illus">List of Illustrations</a> (separate +file)</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving1.html">Chapter I</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving1.html#chap_II">Chapter II</a> (separate +file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving1.html#chap_III">Chapter III</a> (separate +file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html">Chapter IV</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html#chap_V">Chapter V</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving6.html">Chapter VI</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving7.html">Chapter VII</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving8.html">Chapter VIII</a> (separate file)<br> +Chapter IX</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#index">Index</a> (separate file)</p> +</div> + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<h2><span class = "smallest">ON</span><br> +WOOD ENGRAVING.</h2> + +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page561" id = "page561"> +561</a></span> +<h3><a name = "chap_IX" id = "chap_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br> +<span class = "subhead">THE PRACTICE OF WOOD ENGRAVING.</span></h3> + +<p class = "synopsis"> +Erroneous opinions about cross-hatching—the choice and preparation +of the wood—mode of inserting a plug—magnifying glasses and +engraver’s lamp—different kinds of tools—cutting +tints—engraving in outline—cuts representing colour and +texture—maps engraved on wood—the advantages of lowering a +block previous to engraving the subject—chiaro-scuro engraving on +wood, and printing in colours from wood-blocks—metallic relief +engraving, by blake, bewick, branston, and lizars—mr. +c. hancock’s patent—mr. woone’s patent—casts from +wood-cuts—printing wood-cuts—conclusion.</p> + + +<div class = "maintext"> + +<p class = "first"><span class = "firstword"><span class = "dropcap"> +<a name = "illus_561" id = "illus_561"><img src = "images/illus_561.png" +width = "154" height = "185" +alt = "P"></a></span>erhaps</span> no art exercised in this country is +less known to the public than that of wood engraving; and hence it +arises that most persons who have incidentally or even expressly written +on the subject have committed so many mistakes respecting the practice. +It is from a want of practical knowledge that we have had so many absurd +speculations respecting the manner in which the old wood engravers +executed their cross-hatchings, and so many <i>notions</i> about +vegetable putties and metallic relief engraving. Even in a Memoir of +Bewick, printed in 1836, we find the following passage, which certainly +would not have appeared had the writer paid any attention to the +numerous wood-cuts, containing cross-hatchings of the most delicate +kind, published in England between 1820 and 1834:—“The principal +characteristic of the ancient masters is the crossing of the black +lines, to produce or deepen the shade, commonly called +<i>cross-hatching</i>. Whether this was done by employing different +blocks, one after another, as in calico-printing and paper-staining, +<i>it may be difficult to say</i>; but to produce them on the same block +is so difficult and <i>unnatural</i>, that though Nesbit, one of +Bewick’s early pupils, attempted it on a few occasions, and the splendid +print of Dentatus by Harvey shows that it is not impossible even on a +large scale, yet the waste +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page562" id = "page562"> +562</a></span> +of time and labour is scarcely worth the effect produced.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIX1" id = "tagIX1" href = "#noteIX1">IX.1</a> Now, the +difficulty of saying whether the old cross-hatchings were executed on a +single block, or produced by impressions from two or more, proceeds +entirely from the writer not being acquainted with the subject; had he +known that hundreds of old blocks containing cross-hatchings are still +in existence, and had he been in the habit of seeing similar +cross-hatchings executed almost daily by very indifferent wood +engravers, the difficulty which he felt would have vanished. “Unnatural” +is certainly an improper term for a <i>philosopher</i> to apply to a +process of art, merely because he does not understand it: with equal +reason he might have called every other process, both of copper-plate +and wood engraving, “unnatural;” nay, in this sense there is no process +in arts or manufactures to which the term “unnatural” might not in the +same manner be applied.</p> + +<p>In giving some account of the practice of wood engraving, it seems +most proper to begin with the ground-work—the wood. As it is +generally understood that box is best adapted for the purposes of +engraving, and that it is generally used for cuts intended for the +illustration of books, there seems no occasion to enter into a detail of +all the kinds of wood that might be used for the more ordinary purposes +of large coarse cuts for posting-bills, and others of a similar +character. Mr. Savage, in his Hints on Decorative Printing, has copied +the principal part of what Papillon has said on the subject of wood, +intending that it should be received as information from a practical +wood engraver; but he has omitted to notice that much of what Papillon +says about the choice of wood, can be of little service in guiding the +modern English wood engraver, who executes his subject on the +cross-section of the wood, while Papillon and his contemporaries were +accustomed to engrave upon the side, or the <i>long-way</i> of the wood. +“There is no difficulty,” says Papillon, as translated by Mr. Savage, +“in distinguishing that which is good, as we have only need of taking a +splinter of the box we wish to try, and break it between the fingers; if +it break short, without bending, it will not be of any value; whereas, +if there be great difficulty in breaking it, it is well adapted to our +purpose.”</p> + +<p>Now, it is quite evident from this direction—independent of the +fact being otherwise known—that the thin splinter by which the +quality of the wood was to be tested was to be cut the long way of the +wood: a similar cutting taken from the cross-section would break +short, however excellent the wood might be for the purpose of engraving. +Papillon’s direction is therefore calculated to mislead, unless +accompanied with an explanation of the manner in which the splinter is +to be taken; and it +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page563" id = "page563"> +563</a></span> +is also utterly useless as a test of box that is intended to be engraved +on the cross-section, or end-way of the wood.</p> + +<p>For the purposes of engraving no other kind of wood hitherto tried is +equal to box. For fine and small cuts the smallest logs are to be +preferred, as the smallest wood is almost invariably the best. American +and Turkey box is the largest; but all large wood of this kind is +generally of inferior quality, and most liable to split; it is also +frequently of a red colour, which is a certain characteristic of its +softness, and consequent unfitness for delicate engraving. From my own +experience, English box is superior to all others; for though small, it +is generally so clear and firm in the grain that it never crumbles under +the graver; it resists evenly to the edge of the tool, and gives not a +particle beyond what is actually cut out. The large red wood, on the +contrary, besides being soft, is liable to crumble and to cut short; +that is, small particles will sometimes <i>break</i> away from the sides +of the line cut by the graver, and thus cause imperfections in the work. +Box of large and comparatively quick growth, is also extremely liable to +shrink unevenly between the rings, so that after the surface has been +planed perfectly level, and engraved, it is frequently difficult to +print the cut in a proper manner, in consequence of the inequality of +the surface.</p> + +<p>As even the largest logs of box are of comparatively small diameter, +it is extremely difficult to obtain a perfect block of a single piece +equal to the size of an octavo page. In order to obtain pieces as large +as possible, some dealers are accustomed to saw the log in a slanting +direction—in the manner of an oblique section of a +cylinder—so that the surface of a piece cut off shall resemble an +oval rather than a circle. Blocks sawn in this manner ought never to be +used; for, in consequence of the obliquity of the grain, there is no +preventing small particles tearing out when cutting a line.</p> + +<p>Large red wood containing <i>white spots</i> or streaks is utterly +unfit for the purposes of the engraver; for in cutting a line across, +adjacent to these spots or streaks, sometimes the entire piece thus +marked will be removed, and the cut consequently spoiled. A clear +yellow colour, and as equal as possible over the whole surface, is +generally the best criterion of box-wood. When a block is not of a clear +yellow colour throughout, but only in the centre, gradually becoming +lighter towards the edges, it ought not to be used for delicate work; +the white, in addition to its not cutting so “sweetly,” being of a +softer nature, absorbs more ink than the yellow, and also retains it +more tenaciously, so that impressions from a block of this kind +sometimes display a perceptible inequality of colour;—from the +yellow parts allowing the ink to leave them freely, while the white +parts partially retain it, the printed cut has the appearance of having +received either too much ink in one place, or too +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page564" id = "page564"> +564</a></span> +little in another. Besides this, the ink remaining on the white parts +becomes so adhesive, that, should the sheet be rather too damp +(as will frequently happen when much paper is wetted at one time), +it will sometimes stick to the paper; a small spot of white will +hence appear in the impression, while a minute piece of paper will +remain adhering to the block, to be mixed up with the ink on the balls, +and transferred as a black speck to another part of the cut in a +subsequent impression. But this is not all: should the piece of paper +remain unnoticed for some time it will make a small indention in the +block, and occasion a white or grey speck in the impressions printed +after its removal. Soft red and white box, more especially the latter, +being more porous than clear yellow, blocks of those kinds of wood are +most liable to be injured by the liquids used to clean them after +printing. Should the printer wash them with either lees or spirits of +turpentine, these fluids will enter the wood more freely than if it were +yellow, and cause it to expand in proportion to the quantity used, and +sometimes to such an extent as to distort the drawing. If a block of any +kind of box, whether red, white, or yellow, be wetted or exposed to +dampth, it will expand considerably;<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX2" id += "tagIX2" href = "#noteIX2">IX.2</a> but with care it will return to +its former dimensions, should it have been sufficiently seasoned before +being printed. When, however, the expansion has been caused by lees or +spirits of turpentine, the block will never again contract to its +original size.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX3" id = "tagIX3" href = +"#noteIX3">IX.3</a></p> + +<p>As publishers frequently provide the drawings which are to be +engraved, perhaps a knowledge of the different qualities of box is as +necessary to them as to wood engravers themselves. In reply to this it +may be said, why not require the engraver who is to execute the cuts to +supply proper wood himself? Where only one engraver is employed to +execute all the cuts for a work, the choice of the wood may indeed be +very properly left to himself. But where several are employed, and each +required to send his own wood to the designer, very few are particular +what kind they send; for when the designer receives the different pieces +he generally consigns them to a drawer until wanted, and when he has +finished a design, he not unfrequently sends it to an engraver who did +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page565" id = "page565"> +565</a></span> +not supply the identical piece of wood on which it is drawn. Hence +scarcely any engraver pays much attention to the kind of wood he sends; +for where many are employed in the execution of a series of cuts for the +same work, it is very unlikely that each will receive the drawings on +the wood supplied by himself. Even when the designer is particular in +making the drawings of the subjects which he thinks best suited to each +engraver’s talents on the wood which such engraver has supplied, it not +unfrequently happens that the person who employs the engravers will not +give the blocks to those for whom the artist intended them. Publishers +have a much greater interest in this matter than they seem to suspect. +If soft wood be supplied, the finer lines will soon be bruised down in +printing, and the cut will appear like an old one before half the number +of impressions required have been printed; if red-ringed, the surface is +extremely liable to become uneven, and also to warp and split.</p> + +<p>As box can seldom be obtained of more than five or six inches +diameter, and as wood of this size is rarely sound throughout, blocks +for cuts exceeding five inches square are usually formed of two or more +pieces firmly united by means of iron pins and screws. Should the block, +however, be wetted or exposed to dampth, the joints are certain to open, +and sometimes to such an extent as to require a piece of wood to be +inserted in the aperture.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX4" id = "tagIX4" +href = "#noteIX4">IX.4</a> Perhaps the best way to guard against a large +block opening at the joining of the pieces would be to enclose it with +an iron hoop or frame; such hoop or frame being fixed when nearly +red-hot in the same manner as a tire is applied to a coach or cart +wheel. If the iron fit perfectly tight when forced on to the block in +the manner of a tire, it will be the more likely, by its contracting in +cold and damp weather, to resist the expansive force of the wood at such +times.</p> + +<p>Besides the hardness and toughness of box, which allows of clear +raised lines, capable of bearing the action of the press, being cut on +its surface, this wood, from its not being subject to the attacks of the +worm, has a great advantage over apple, pear-tree, beech,<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIX5" id = "tagIX5" href = "#noteIX5">IX.5</a> and other +kinds of wood, formerly used for the purposes of engraving. Its +preservation in this respect is probably owing to its poisonous nature, +for other kinds of wood of greater hardness and durability are +frequently pierced through and through by worms. The chips of box, when +chewed, are certainly unwholesome to human beings. A fellow-pupil, +who had acquired a habit of chewing the small pieces which he cut out +with his graver, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page566" id = "page566"> +566</a></span> +became unwell, and was frequently attacked with sickness. On mentioning +the subject to his medical adviser, he was ordered to refrain from +chewing the pieces of box; he accordingly took the doctor’s advice, gave +up his bad habit, and in a short time recovered his usual health.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIX6" id = "tagIX6" href = +"#noteIX6">IX.6</a></p> + +<p>Box when kept long in a dry place becomes unfit for the purpose of +engraving. I have at this time in my possession a drawing which has +been made on the block about ten years, but the wood has become so dry +and brittle that it would now be impossible to engrave the subject in a +proper manner.</p> + +<p>When the wood does not cut clear, but crumbles as if it were too dry, +the defect may sometimes be remedied by putting the block into a deep +earthenware jug or pan, and placing such jug or pan in a cool place for +ten or twelve hours. When the wood is too hard and dry to be softened in +the above manner, I would recommend that the back of the block +should be placed in water—in a plate or large dish—to the +depth of the sixteenth part of an inch, for about an hour. If allowed to +remain longer there is a risk of the block afterwards splitting.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_566" id = "illus_566"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_566.png" width = "85" height = "25" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Box, of whatever kind, when not well seasoned, is extremely liable to +warp and bend; but a little care will frequently prevent many of the +accidents to which drawings on unseasoned wood are exposed by neglect. +For instance, when a block is received by the engraver from the designer +or publisher, it ought, if not directly put in hand, to be placed on one +of its edges, and not, as is customary with many, laid down flat, with +the surface on which the drawing is made upwards. If a block of +unseasoned wood be permitted to lie in this manner for a week or two, it +is almost certain to turn up at the edges, the upper surface becoming +concave, and the lower convex, as is shown in the annexed cut, +representing the section of such a block.</p> + +<p>The same thing will occur in the process of engraving, though to a +small extent, should the engraver’s hands be warm and moist; and also +when working by lamp-light without a globe filled with water between the +lamp and the block. Such slight warping in the course of engraving is, +however, easily remedied by laying the block with its face—that +is, the surface on which the drawing is made—downward on the desk +or table at all times when the engraver is not actually employed on the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page567" id = "page567"> +567</a></span> +subject. The block so placed, provided that it be not of very dry wood, +in a short time recovers its former level. When a block of very dry wood +becomes <i>dished</i>, or concave, on its upper surface, as shown in the +preceding cut, there is little chance of its ever again becoming +sufficiently flat to allow of its being well printed. When the deviation +from a perfect level at the bottom is not so great as to attract the +notice of the pressman previous to taking an impression, the block not +unfrequently yields to the action of the platten, and splits. The +fracture remains perhaps unobserved for a short time, and when it is at +length noticed, the block is probably spoiled beyond remedy.</p> + +<p>When box is very dry it is extremely difficult to cut a clear line +upon it, as it crumbles, and small pieces fly out at the sides of the +line traced by the graver. The small white spots so frequently seen in +the delicate lines of the sky in wood-cuts are occasioned by particles +flying out in this manner. If a block consist partly of yellow wood and +partly of wood with red rings, the yellow will cut clear, while in the +red it will be almost impossible to cut a perfect line. When the same +piece of wood is yellow and red alternately it is extremely difficult to +produce an even <i>tint</i> upon it. Wood of this kind ought always to +be rejected, both from the difficulty of engraving upon it with +clearness, and from the uncertainty of the surface continuing perfectly +flat, as the red rings are more liable to shrink in drying than the +other parts, and, from their thus not receiving a sufficient quantity of +ink, to appear like so many rainbows in the impression.</p> + +<p>The spaces between those rings are greater or less, accordingly as +the seasons have been favourable or unfavourable to the growth of the +tree. Besides the injurious effect which those red rings are apt to +produce in an impression, wood of this kind is very unpleasant and +uncertain to engrave on; for as the yellow parts cut pleasant and clear, +the engraver, unless particularly on his guard, is betrayed to trust to +the whole piece as being of the same uniform tenacity, and before he is +aware of its inequality in this respect, or can check the progress of +his graver, its point has entered one of those soft red rings, and, to +the injury of his work, has either caused a small piece to fly out, or +carried the line further than he intended. Wood of this kind is unfit +for anything except very common work, and ought never to be used for +delicate engraving. There is no certain means of forming a judgment of +box-wood until it be cut into slices or trencher-like pieces from the +log; for many logs which externally appear sound and of a good colour, +prove very faulty and cracked in the centre when sawn up. Turkey box is +in particular so defective in this respect that a large slice can seldom +be procured without a crack. This, probably, is occasioned by the manner +in which the tree is felled. Previous to their beginning to cut down +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page568" id = "page568"> +568</a></span> +a tree the Turkish wood-cutters fasten a rope to the top, by means of +which they break the tree down when the bole is little more than half +cut through. The consequence is that a <i>shiver</i> frequently extends +through the most valuable portion of the log.</p> + +<p>Many artists, who are not accustomed to make drawings on wood, +erroneously suppose that the block requires some peculiar preparation. +Nothing more is required than to rub the previously planed and smoothed +surface with a little powdered Bath-brick, slightly mixed with water: as +little water as possible is, however, to be used, as otherwise the block +will absorb too much, and be afterwards extremely liable to split. When +this thin coating is perfectly dry, it is to be removed by rubbing the +block with the palm of the hand. No part of the light powder ought to +remain, for, otherwise, the pencil coming in contact with it will make a +coarse and comparatively thick line, which, besides being a blemish in +the drawing, is very liable to be rubbed off. The object of using the +powdered Bath-brick is to render the surface less slippery, and thus +capable of affording a better <i>hold</i> to the point of the black-lead +pencil.</p> + +<p>When the principal parts of the drawing are first washed in upon the +block in Indian ink, it is of great advantage to gently rub the surface +of the block, when dry, with a little dry and finely powdered +Bath-brick, before the drawing is completed with the black-lead pencil. +By this means the hard edges of the Indian-ink wash will be softened, +the different tints delicately blended, and the subsequent touches of +the pencil be more distinctly seen. Some artists, previous to beginning +to draw on the block, are in the habit of washing over the surface with +a mixture of flake-white and gum-water.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX7" +id = "tagIX7" href = "#noteIX7">IX.7</a> This practice is, however, by +no means a good one. The drawing indeed may appear very bright and showy +when first made on such a white surface, but in the progress of +engraving a thin film of the preparation will occasionally rise up +before the graver and carry with it a portion of the unengraved work, +which the engraver is left to restore according to his ability and +recollection. This white ground also mixes with the ink in taking a +first proof, and fills up the finer parts of the cut. If a white wash be +used without gum, the drawing is very liable to be partially effaced in +the progress of engraving, and the engraver left to finish his work as +he can. The risk of this inconvenience ought to be especially avoided in +making drawings on a block, as the wood engraver has not the opportunity +of referring to another drawing or to an original painting in the manner +of an engraver on copper.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page569" id = "page569"> +569</a></span> +<p>The less that is done to change the original colour of the +wood—by white or any other preparation—so much the better +for the engraver; a piece of clear box is sufficiently light to +allow of the most delicate lines being distinctly drawn upon it. When +the surface of the block is whitened, another inconvenience arises +besides those already noticed. It is this: when the drawing is made upon +a white ground, and the subject partially engraved, the effect of the +whole becomes very confused and perplexing to the engraver in +consequence of the parts already engraved appearing nearly of the +original colour of the wood, while the ground of the parts not yet cut +is white, as first drawn. The engraver’s eye cannot correctly judge of +the whole, and the inconvenience is increased by his neither having an +original drawing to refer to, nor a proof to guide him: until the cut be +completed he has no means of correctly ascertaining whether he has left +too much <i>colour</i> or taken too much away.</p> + +<p>The engraver on copper or on steel can have an impression of his +etching as soon as it is <i>bit</i> in, and can take impressions of the +plate at all times in the course of his progress; the wood engraver, on +the contrary, enjoys no such advantages; he is obliged to wait until all +be completed ere he can obtain an impression of his work. If the wood +engraver has kept his subject generally too dark, there is not much +difficulty in reducing it; but if he has engraved it too light, there is +no remedy. If a small part be badly engraved, or the block has sustained +an injury, the defect may be repaired by inserting a small piece of wood +and re-engraving it: this mode of repairing a block is technically +termed “<i>plugging</i>.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX8" id = "tagIX8" +href = "#noteIX8">IX.8</a></p> + +<p>When a block requires to be thus amended or repaired, it is first to +be determined how much is necessary to be taken out that the restoration +may accord with the adjacent parts; for sometimes, in order to render +the insertion less perceptible, it may be requisite to take out rather +more than the part imactually perfect or injured. This being decided on, +a hole is drilled in the block, as is represented in the next page, +of a size sufficient to admit “the <i>plug</i>.” The hole ought not to +be drilled quite through the block, as the piece let in would, from the +shaking and battering of the press, be very likely to become loosened. +Should it receive more pressure at the top than bottom, it would sink a +little below the engraved surface of the block, and thus appear lighter +in the impression than the surrounding parts; while should it be +slightly forced up from below it, would appear darker,—in each +case forming +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page570" id = "page570"> +570</a></span> +a positive blemish in the cut.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX9" id = +"tagIX9" href = "#noteIX9">IX.9</a> When the shape of the part to be +restored is too large to be covered with one circular plug, it is better +to add one plug to another till the whole be covered, than to insert one +of a different shape, and thus fill the space at once. When a single +plug is used the section appears thus;</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_570b" id = "illus_570b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_570b.png" width = "206" height = "53" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_570c" id = "illus_570c"> </a><br> +<img src = "images/illus_570c.png" width = "145" height = "191" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "continue"> +the plug being driven in like a wedge, and having a vacant space around +it at the bottom. If an oblong space of the form No. 1. is to be +restored, it will be best effected by first inserting a plug at each +end, as at No. 2, then adding two others, as at No. 3, and +finally wedging them all fast by a central plug, as at No. 4, like +the key-stone in an arch. When a plug is firmly fixed, the top is +carefully cut down to the level of the block, and the part of the +subject wanting re-drawn and engraved. When these operations are well +performed no trace of the insertion can +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page571" id = "page571"> +571</a></span> +be discovered, except by one who should know where to look for it.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_570a" id = "illus_570a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_570a.png" width = "254" height = "274" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +THE PLUG OUT.</p> + +<p>When a cast is taken from a block which requires the insertion of a +plug, the best mode is to have the part intended to be renewed cast +blank. In this case a hole of sufficient size is to be drilled in the +block, and afterwards filled up with plaster to the level of the +surface. A cast being then taken, the part to be re-engraved +remains blank, but of a piece with the rest of the metal, so that there +is no possibility of its rising up above or sinking below the surface, +as sometimes happens when a plug is inserted in a wood-block. When the +part remaining blank in the cast is engraved in accordance with the work +of the surrounding parts, it is almost impossible to discover any trace +of the insertion. The following impression is from a cast of the block +illustrating the “plug,” with the part which appears white in the former +cut restored and re-engraved in this manner. A white circular line, +near the handle of the pail, has been purposely cut to indicate the +place of the plug.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_571" id = "illus_571"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_571.png" width = "259" height = "280" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Before beginning to engrave any subject, it is necessary to observe +whether the drawing be entirely, or only in part, made with a pencil. If +it be what is usually called a <i>wash</i> drawing, with little more +than the outlines in pencil, it is not necessary to be so cautious in +defending it from the action of the breath or the occasional touching of +the hand; +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page572" id = "page572"> +572</a></span> +but if it be entirely in pencil, too much care cannot be taken to +protect it from both.</p> + +<p>Before proceeding to engrave a delicate pencil drawing the block +ought to be covered with paper, with the exception of the part on which +it is intended to begin. Soft paper ought not to be used for this +purpose, as such is most likely to partially efface the drawing when the +hand is pressed upon the block. Moderately stout post-paper with a +glazed surface is the best; though some engravers, in order to preserve +their eyes, which become affected by white paper, cover the block with +blue paper, which is usually too soft, and thus expose the drawing to +injury. The dingy, grey, and over-done appearance of several modern +wood-cuts is doubtless owing, in a great measure, to the block when in +course of engraving having been covered with soft paper, which has +partially effaced the drawing. The drawing, which originally may have +been clear and <i>touchy</i>, loses its brightness, and becomes +indistinct from its frequent contact with the soft pliable paper; the +spirited dark touches which give it effect are rubbed down to a sober +grey, and all the other parts, from the same cause, are comparatively +weak. The cut, being engraved according to the appearance of the +drawing, is tame, flat, and spiritless.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_572" id = "illus_572"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_572.png" width = "122" height = "63" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Different engravers have different methods of fastening the paper to +the block.<a class = "tag error" name = "tagIX10" id = "tagIX10" href = +"#noteIX10" title = "footnote tag missing">IX.10</a> Some fix it with +gum, or with wafers at the sides; but this is not a good mode, for as +often as it is necessary to take a view of the whole block, in order to +judge of the progress of the work, the paper must be torn off, and +afterwards replaced by means of new wafers or fresh gum, so that before +the cut is finished the sides of the block are covered with bits of +paper in the manner of a wall or shop-front covered with fragments of +posting-bills. The most convenient mode of fastening the paper is to +first wrap a piece of stiff and stout thread three or four times round +the edges of the block, and then after making the end fast to remove it. +The paper is then to be closely fitted to the block, and the edges being +brought over the sides, the thread is to be re-placed above it. If the +turns of the thread be too tight to pass over the last corner of the +block, <span class = "smallroman">A</span>, a piece of string, <span +class = "smallroman">B</span>, being passed within them and firmly +pulled, in the manner here represented, will cause them to stretch a +little and pass over on to the edge without difficulty. When this plan +is adopted the paper forms a kind of moveable cap, which can +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page573" id = "page573"> +573</a></span> +be taken off at pleasure to view the progress of the work, and replaced +without the least trouble.</p> + +<p>I have long been of opinion that many young persons, when beginning +to learn the art of wood engraving, have injured their sight by +unnecessarily using a magnifying glass. At the very commencement of +their pupilage boys will furnish themselves with a glass of this kind, +as if it were as much a matter of course as a set of gravers; they +sometimes see men use a glass, and as at this period they are prone to +ape their elders in the profession, <i>they</i> must have one also; and +as they generally choose such as magnify most, the result not +unfrequently is that their sight is considerably impaired before they +are capable of executing anything that really requires much nicety of +vision.</p> + +<p>I would recommend all persons to avoid the use of glasses of any +kind, whether single magnifiers or spectacles, until impaired sight +renders such aids necessary; and even then to commence with such as are +of small magnifying power. The habit of viewing minute objects +alternately with a magnifying glass and the naked eye—applying the +glass every two or three minutes—is, I am satisfied, +injurious to the sight. The magnifying glass used by wood engravers is +similar to that used by watch-makers, and consists of a single lens, +fitted into a short tube, which is rather wider at the end applied to +the eye. As the glass seldom can be fixed so firmly to the eye as to +entirely dispense with holding it, the engraver is thus frequently +obliged to apply his left hand to keep it in its place; as he cannot +hold the block with the same hand at the same time, or move it as may be +required, so as to enable him to execute his work with freedom, the +consequence is, that the engraving of a person who is in the habit of +using a magnifying glass has frequently a cramped appearance. There are +also other disadvantages attendant on the habitual use of a magnifying +glass. A person using such a glass must necessarily hold his head +aside, so that the eye on which the glass is fixed may be directly above +the part on which he is at work. In order to attain this position, the +eye itself is not unfrequently distorted; and when it is kept so for any +length of time it becomes extremely painful. I never find my eyes +so free from pain or aching as when looking at the work directly in +front, without any twisting of the neck so as to bring one eye only +immediately above the part in course of execution. I therefore +conclude that the eyes are less likely to be injured when thus employed +than when one is frequently distorted and pained in looking through a +glass. I am here merely speaking from experience, and not +professedly from any theoretic knowledge of optics; but as I have +hitherto done without the aid of any magnifying power, I am not +without reason convinced that glasses of all kinds ought to be dispensed +with until impaired vision renders their use absolutely +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page574" id = "page574"> +574</a></span> +necessary. I am decidedly of opinion that to use glasses <i>to +preserve</i> the sight, is to meet half way the evil which is thus +sought to be averted. A person who has his sense of hearing perfect +never thinks of using a trumpet or acoustic instrument in order to +preserve it. All wood engravers, whether their eyes be naturally weak or +not, ought to wear a shade, similar to that represented in the following +figure, No. 1, as it both protects the eyes from too strong a +light, and also serves to concentrate the view on the work which the +engraver is at the time engaged in executing.</p> + +<div class = "picture"> +<div class = "picblock"> +<a name = "illus_574" id = "illus_574"> </a> +<p><img src = "images/illus_574a.png" width = "102" height = "134" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 1.</p> +</div> +<div class = "picblock"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_574b.png" width = "92" height = "139" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>When speaking on this subject, it may not be out of place to mention +a kind of shade or screen for the nose and mouth, similar to that in the +preceding figure, No. 2. Such a shade or screen is called by +Papillon a <i>mentonnière</i>,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX11" id = +"tagIX11" href = "#noteIX11">IX.11</a> and its object is to prevent the +drawing on the block being injured by the breath in damp or frosty +weather. Without such a precaution, a drawing made on the block +with black-lead pencil would, in a great measure, be effaced by the +breath of the engraver passing freely over it in such weather. Such a +shade or screen is most conveniently made of a piece of thin pasteboard +or stiff paper.</p> + +<p>There are various modes of protecting the eyes when working by +lamp-light, but I am aware of only one which both protects the eyes from +the light and the face from the heat of the lamp. This consists in +filling a large transparent glass-globe with clear water, and placing it +in such a manner between the lamp and the workman that the light, after +passing through the globe, may fall directly on the block, in the manner +represented in the following cut. The height of the lamp can be +regulated according to the engraver’s convenience, in consequence of its +being moveable on the upright piece of iron or other metal which forms +its support. The dotted line shows the direction of the light when the +lamp is elevated to the height here seen; by lowering the lamp a +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page575" id = "page575"> +575</a></span> +little more, the dotted line would incline more to a horizontal +direction, and enable the engraver to sit at a greater distance. By the +use of those globes one lamp will suffice for three or four persons, and +each person have a much clearer and cooler light than if he had a lamp +without a globe solely to himself.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX12" id = +"tagIX12" href = "#noteIX12">IX.12</a></p> + +<div class = "picture w300"> +<p><a name = "illus_575" id = "illus_575"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_575.png" width = "275" height = "304" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "leftside"> +SANDBAG AND BLOCK.</p> +<p class = "rightside"> +LAMP.</p> + +<p class = "caption"> +GLOBE.</p> +</div> + +<p>It has been said, and with some appearance of truth, that “the best +engravers use the fewest tools;” but this, like many other sayings of a +similar kind, does not generally hold good. He undoubtedly ought to be +considered the best engraver who executes his work in the <i>best +manner</i> with the fewest tools; while it is no less certain that he is +a bad engraver who executes his work badly, whether he use many or few. +No wood engraver who understands his art will incumber his desk or table +with a number of useless tools, though, from a regard to his own time, +he will take care that he has as many as are necessary. There are some +who pride themselves upon executing a great variety of work with one +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page576" id = "page576"> +576</a></span> +tool, and hence, firmly believing in the truth of the saying above +quoted, fancy that they are first-rate engravers. Such would be better +entitled to the name if they executed their work well. A person who +makes his tools his <i>hobby-horse</i>, and who bestows upon their +ornaments—ebony or ivory handles, silver hoops, &c.—that +attention which ought rather to be devoted to his subject, rarely excels +as an engraver. He who is vain of the beautiful appearance of his tools +has not often just reason to be proud of his work.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_576a" id = "illus_576a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_576a.png" width = "210" height = "41" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>There are only four kinds of cutting tools<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIX13" id = "tagIX13" href = "#noteIX13">IX.13</a> necessary in wood +engraving, namely:—gravers; tint-tools; gouges or scoopers; and +flat tools or chisels. Of each of these four kinds there are various +sizes. The following cut shows the form of a graver that is principally +used for outlining or separating one figure from another. A, is the back +of the tool; B, the face; C, the point; and D, what is technically +called the belly. The horizontal dotted line, 1, 2, shows the surface of +the block, and the manner in which part of the handle is cut off after +the blade is inserted.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX14" id = "tagIX14" +href = "#noteIX14">IX.14</a> This tool is very fine at the point, as the +line which it cuts ought to be so thin as not to be distinctly +perceptible when the cut is printed, as the intention is merely to form +a termination or boundary to a series of lines running in another +direction. Though it is necessary that the point should be very fine, +yet the blade ought not to be too thin, for then, instead of cutting out +a piece of the wood, the tool will merely make a delicate opening, which +would be likely to close as soon as the block should be exposed to the +action of the press. When the outline tool becomes too thin at the point +the lower part should be rubbed on a hone, in order to reduce the +extreme fineness.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_576b" id = "illus_576b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_576b.png" width = "215" height = "82" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>About eight or nine gravers of different sizes, beginning from the +outline tool, are generally sufficient. The blades differ little in +shape, when first made, from those used by copper-plate engravers; but +in order to render them fit for the purpose of wood engraving, it is +necessary to give the points their peculiar form by rubbing them on a +Turkey stone. In this cut are shown the faces and part of the backs of +nine gravers of different sizes; the lower dotted line, <span class = +"smallroman">A C</span>, shows the extent to which the points of +such +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page577" id = "page577"> +577</a></span> +tools are sometimes ground down by the engraver in order to render them +broader. When thus ground down the points are slightly rounded, and do +not remain straight as if cut off by the dotted line <span class = +"smallroman">A C</span>. These tools are used for nearly all kinds of +work, except for series of parallel lines, technically called “tints.” +The width of the line cut out, according to the thickness of the graver +towards the point, is regulated by the pressure of the engraver’s +hand.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_577" id = "illus_577"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_577a.png" width = "211" height = "91" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<div class = "figfloat"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_577b.png" width = "120" height = "72" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "leftside"> +TINT-TOOL.</p> +<p class = "rightside"> +GRAVER.</p> +</div> + +<p>Tint-tools are chiefly used to cut parallel lines forming an even and +uniform <i>tint</i>, such as is usually seen in the representation of a +clear sky in wood-cuts. They are thinner at the back, but deeper in the +side than gravers, and the angle of the face, at the point, is much more +acute. About seven or eight, of different degrees of fineness, are +generally sufficient. The following cut will afford an idea of the shape +of the blades towards the point. The handle of the tint-tool is of the +same form as that of a graver. The figure marked A presents a side view +of the blade; the others marked B show the faces. Some engravers never +use a tint-tool, but cut all their lines with a graver. There is, +however, great uncertainty in cutting a series of parallel lines in this +manner, as the least inclination of the hand to one side will cause the +graver to increase the width of the white line <i>cut out</i>, and +undercut the raised one <i>left</i>, more than if in the same +circumstances a tint-tool were used. This will be rendered more evident +by a comparison of the points and faces of the two different tools: The +tint-tool, being very little thicker at B than at the point A, will +cause a very trifling difference in the width of a line in the event of +a wrong inclination, when compared with the inequality occasioned by the +unsteady direction of a graver, whose angle at the point is much greater +than that of a proper tint-tool. Tint-tools ought to be sufficiently +strong at the back to prevent their bending in the middle of the blade +when used, for with a weak tool of this kind the engraver cannot +properly guide the point, and hence freedom of execution is lost. +Tint-tools that are rather thick in the back are to be preferred to such +as are thin, not only from their allowing of great steadiness in +cutting, but from their leaving the raised lines thicker at the bottom, +and consequently more capable of sustaining the action of the press. +A tint-tool that is of the same thickness, both at the back and the +lower part, cuts out +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page578" id = "page578"> +578</a></span> +the lines in such manner that a section of them appears thus: +<a name = "illus_578" id = "illus_578"> +<img src = "images/illus_578a.png" width = "45" height = "20" +alt = "see text"></a> +the black or raised lines from which the impression is obtained being no +thicker at their base than at the surface; while a section of the lines +cut by a tool that is thicker at the back than at the lower part appears +thus. +<img src = "images/illus_578b.png" width = "41" height = "18" +alt = "see text"> +It is evident that lines of this kind, having a better support at the +base, are much less liable than the former to be broken in printing.</p> +<div class = "figfloat"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_578c.png" width = "109" height = "57" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> +<p class = "caption">GOUGES.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "figfloat"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_578d.png" width = "104" height = "48" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> +<p class = "caption">CHISELS.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "figfloat"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_578e.png" width = "25" height = "43" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> +<p class = "caption">C</p> +</div> + +<p class = "continue"> +Gouges of different sizes, from <span class = "smallroman">A</span> the +smallest to <span class = "smallroman">B</span> the largest, as here +represented, are used for scooping out the wood towards the centre of +the block; while flat tools or chisels, of various sizes, are chiefly +employed in cutting away the wood towards the edges. Flat tools of the +shape seen in figure <span class = "smallroman">C</span> are sometimes +offered for sale by tool-makers, but they ought never to be used; for +the projecting corners are very apt to cut <i>under</i> a line, and thus +remove it entirely, causing great trouble to replace it by inserting new +pieces of wood.</p> + +<p>The face of both gravers and tint-tools ought to be kept rather long +than short; though if the point be ground <i>too fine</i>, it will be +very liable to break. When the face is long—or, strictly speaking, +when the angle, formed by the plane of the face and the lower line of +the blade, is comparatively acute—thus, +<span class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/illus_578f.png" width = "126" height = "25" +alt = "see text"></span> +a line is cut with much greater clearness than when the face is +comparatively obtuse, and the small shaving cut out turns gently over +towards the hand. When, however, the face of the tool approaches to the +shape seen in the following cut, the reverse happens; the small shaving +is rather ploughed out than cleanly cut out; and the force necessary to +push the tool forward frequently causes small pieces to fly out at each +side of the hollowed line, more especially if the wood be dry. The +shaving also, instead of turning aside over the face of the tool, turns +over before the point, thus, +<span class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/illus_578g.png" width = "126" height = "22" +alt = "see text"></span> +and hinders the engraver from seeing that part of the pencilled line +which is directly under it. A short-faced tool of itself prevents +the engraver from distinctly seeing the point. When the face of a tool +has become obtuse, it ought to be ground to a proper form, for instance, +from the shape of the figure A to that of B.</p> + +<div class = "picture"> +<div class = "picblock"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_578h.png" width = "106" height = "27" +alt = "see text"></p> +</div> + +<div class = "picblock"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_578i.png" width = "107" height = "27" +alt = "see text"></p> +</div> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page579" id = "page579"> +579</a></span> + +<p>Gravers and tint-tools when first received from the maker are +generally too hard,—a defect which is soon discovered by the point +breaking off short as soon as it enters the wood. To remedy this, the +blade of the tool ought to be placed with its flat side above a piece of +iron—a poker will do very well—nearly red-hot. Directly it +changes to a straw colour it is to be taken off the iron, and either +dipped in sweet oil or allowed to cool gradually. If removed from the +iron while it is still of a straw colour, it will have been softened no +more than sufficient; but should it have acquired a purple tinge, it +will have been softened too much; and instead of breaking at the point, +as before, it will bend. A small grindstone is of great service in +grinding down the faces of tools that have become obtuse. A Turkey +stone, though the operation requires more time, is however a very good +substitute, as, besides reducing the face, the tool receives a point at +the same time. Though some engravers use only a Turkey stone for +sharpening their tools, yet a hone in addition is of great advantage. +A graver that has received a final polish on a hone cuts a clearer +line than one which has only been sharpened on a Turkey stone; it also +cuts more pleasantly, gliding smoothly through the wood, if it be of +good quality, without stirring a particle on each side of the line.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_579a" id = "illus_579a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_579a.png" width = "180" height = "31" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/illus_579b.png" width = "181" height = "31" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The gravers and tint-tools used for engraving on a plane surface are +straight at the point, as is here represented; but for engraving on a +block rendered concave in certain parts by lowering, it is necessary +that the point should have a slight inclination upwards, thus. The +dotted lines show the direction of the point used for plane surface +engraving. There is no difficulty in getting a tool to <i>descend</i> on +one side of a part hollowed out or lowered; but unless the point be +slightly inclined upwards, as is here shown, it is extremely difficult +to make it <i>ascend</i> on the side opposite, without getting <i>too +much hold</i>, and thus producing a wider white line than was +intended.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_579c" id = "illus_579c"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_579c.png" width = "204" height = "67" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>As the proper manner of holding the graver is one of the first things +that a young wood engraver is taught, it is necessary to say a few words +on this subject. Engravers on copper and steel, who have much harder +substances than wood to cut, hold the graver with the fore-finger +extending on the blade beyond the thumb, thus, so that by its pressure +the point may be pressed into the plate. As box-wood, however, is much +softer than copper or steel, and as it is seldom of perfectly equal +hardness +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page580" id = "page580"> +580</a></span> +throughout, it is necessary to hold the graver in a different manner, +and employ the thumb at once as a stay or rest for the blade, and as a +check upon the force exerted by the palm of the hand, the motion being +chiefly directed by the fore-finger, as is shown in the following +cut.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_580a" id = "illus_580a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_580a.png" width = "291" height = "164" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The thumb, with the end resting against the side of the block, in the +manner above represented, allows the blade to move back and forward with +a slight degree of pressure against it, and in case of a slip it is ever +ready to check the graver’s progress. This mode of resting the thumb +against the edge of the block is, however, only applicable when the cuts +are so small as to allow of the graver, when thus guided and controlled, +to reach every part of the subject. When the cut is too large to admit +of this, the thumb then rests upon the surface of the block, thus:</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_580b" id = "illus_580b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_580b.png" width = "310" height = "181" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "continue"> +still forming a stay to the blade of the graver, and a check to its +slips, as before.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page581" id = "page581"> +581</a></span> + +<div class = "figfloat"> +<p><a name = "illus_581a" id = "illus_581a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_581a.png" width = "91" height = "61" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 1.</p> +</div> + +<p>In order to acquire steadiness of hand, the best thing for a pupil to +begin with is the cutting of tints,—that is, parallel lines; and +the first attempts ought to be made on a small block such as is +represented in No. 1, which will allow each entire line to be cut +with the thumb resting against the edge. When lines of this length can +be cut with tolerable precision, the pupil should proceed to blocks of +the size of No. 2. He ought also to cut waved tints, which are not +so difficult; beginning, as in straight ones, with a small block, and +gradually proceeding to blocks of greater size. Should the wood not cut +smoothly in the direction in which he has begun, he should reverse the +block, and cut his lines in the opposite direction; for it not +unfrequently happens that wood which cuts short and crumbles in one +direction will cut clean and smooth the opposite way. It is here +necessary to observe, that if a certain number of lines be cut in one +direction, and another portion, by reversing the block, be cut the +contrary way, the tint, although the same tool may have been used for +all, will be of two different shades, notwithstanding the pains that may +have been taken to keep the lines of an even thickness throughout. This +difference in the appearance of the two portions of lines cut from +opposite sides is entirely owing to the wood cutting more smoothly in +one direction than another, although the difference in the resistance +which it makes to the tool may not be perceptible by the hand of the +engraver. It is of great importance that a pupil should be able to cut +tints well before he proceeds to any other kind of work. The practice +will give him steadiness of hand, and he will thus acquire a habit of +carefully executing such lines, which subsequently will be of the +greatest service. Wood engravers who have not been well schooled in this +elementary part of their profession often cut their tints carelessly in +the first instance, and, when they perceive the defect in a proof, +return to their work; and, with great loss of time, keep thinning and +dressing the lines, till they frequently make the tint appear worse than +at first.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_581b" id = "illus_581b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_581b.png" width = "276" height = "122" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 2.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page582" id = "page582"> +582</a></span> + +<div class = "figfloat"> +<p><a name = "illus_582a" id = "illus_582a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_582a.png" width = "152" height = "157" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 3.</p> + +<p><a name = "illus_582b" id = "illus_582b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_582b.png" width = "152" height = "73" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 4.</p> +</div> + +<p>When uniform tints, both of straight and waved lines, can be cut with +facility, the learner should proceed to cut tints in which the lines are +of unequal distance apart. To effect this, tools of different sizes are +necessary; for in tints of this kind the different distances between the +black lines, are according to the width of the different tools used to +cut them; though in tints of a graduated tone of colour, the difference +is sometimes entirely produced by increasing the pressure of the graver. +In the annexed cut, No. 3, the black lines are of equal thickness, +but the width of the white lines between them becomes gradually less +from the top to the bottom. By comparing it with No. 4, the +difference between a uniform tint, where the lines are of the same +thickness and equally distant, and one where the distance between the +lines is unequal, will be more readily understood.</p> + +<p>A straight-line tint, either uniform, or with the lines becoming +gradually closer without appearing darker, is generally adopted to +represent a clear blue sky. In No. 3 the tint has been commenced +with a comparatively broad-pointed tool; and after cutting a few lines, +less pressure, thus allowing the black lines to come a little closer +together, has been used, till it became necessary to change the tool for +one less broad in the face. In this manner a succession of tools, each +finer than the preceding, has been employed till the tint was +completed.—To be able to produce a tint of delicately graduated +<i>tone</i>, it is necessary that the engraver should be well acquainted +with the use of his tools, and also have a correct eye. The following is +a specimen of a tint cut entirely with the same <i>graver</i>, the +difference in the colour being produced by increasing the pressure in +the lighter parts.</p> + +<div class = "figfloat"> +<p><a name = "illus_582c" id = "illus_582c"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_582c.png" width = "219" height = "112" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 5.</p> +</div> + +<p class = "continue"> +Tints of this kind are obtained with greater facility and certainty by +using a graver, and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page583" id = "page583"> +583</a></span> +increasing the pressure, than by using several tint-tools. On comparing +No. 3 with No. 5, it will be perceived that the black lines in +the latter decrease in thickness as they approach the bottom of the cut, +while in the former they are of a uniform thickness throughout. If a +clear sky is to be represented, there is no other mode of making that +part near the horizon appear to recede except by means of fine black +lines becoming gradually closer as they descend, as seen in the tint +No. 3. As the black lines in this tint are closer at the bottom +than at the top, it might naturally be supposed that the colour would be +<ins class = "correction" title = "text unchanged">proportionably</ins> +stronger in that part. It is, however, known by experience that the +unequal distance of the lines in such a tint does not cause any +perceptible difference in the colour; as the upper lines, in consequence +of their being more apart, print thicker, and thus counterbalance the +effect of the greater closeness of the others.</p> + +<p>The two following cuts are specimens of tints represented by means of +waved lines: in No. 6 the lines are slightly undulated; in +No. 7 they have more of the appearance of zig-zag.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_583a" id = "illus_583a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_583a.png" width = "292" height = "125" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 6.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_583b" id = "illus_583b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_583b.png" width = "275" height = "124" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 7.</p> + +<p>Waved lines are generally introduced to represent clouds, as they not +only form a contrast with the straight lines of the sky, but from their +form suggest the idea of motion. It is necessary to observe, that if the +alternate undulations in such lines be too much curved, the tint, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page584" id = "page584"> +584</a></span> +when printed, will appear as if intersected from top to bottom, like +wicker-work with perpendicular stakes, in the manner shown in the +following specimen, No. 8. This appearance is caused by the unequal +pressure of the tool in forming the small curves of which each line is +composed, thus making the black or raised line rather thicker in some +parts than in others, and the white interstices wide or narrow in the +same proportion. The appearance of such a tint is precisely the same +whether cut by hand or by a machine.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX15" id += "tagIX15" href = "#noteIX15">IX.15</a> In executing waved tints it is +therefore necessary to be particularly careful not to get the +undulations too much curved.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_584" id = "illus_584"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_584.png" width = "285" height = "131" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 8.</p> + +<p>As the choice of proper tints depends on taste, no specific rules can +be laid down to guide a person in their selection. The proper use of +lines of various kinds as applied to the execution of wood-cuts, is a +most important consideration to the engraver, as upon their proper +application all indications of form, texture, and conventional colour +entirely depend. Lines are not to be introduced merely as such,—to +display the mechanical skill of the engraver; they ought to be the signs +of an artistic meaning, and be judged of accordingly as they serve to +express it with feeling and correctness. Some wood engravers are but too +apt to pride themselves on the delicacy of their <i>lining</i>, without +considering whether it be well adapted to express their subject; and to +fancy that excellence in the art consists chiefly in cutting with great +labour a number of delicate unmeaning lines. To such an extent is this +carried by some of this class that they spend more time in expressing +the mere scratches of the designer’s pencil in a shade than a Bewick or +a Clennell would require to engrave a cut full of meaning and interest. +Mere delicacy of lines will not, however, compensate for want of natural +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page585" id = "page585"> +585</a></span> +expression, nor laborious trifling for that vigorous execution which is +the result of feeling. “Expression,” says Flaxman, “engages the +attention, and excites an interest which compensates for a multitude of +defects—whilst the most admirable execution, without a just and +lively expression, will be disregarded as laborious inanity, or +contemned as an illusory endeavour to impose on the feelings and the +understanding.—Sentiment gives a sterling value, an irresistible +charm, to the rudest imagery or the most unpractised scrawl. By this +quality a firm alliance is formed with the affections in all works of +art.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX16" id = "tagIX16" href = +"#noteIX16">IX.16</a> Perpetrators of laborious inanities find, however, +their admirers; and an amateur of such delicacies is in raptures with a +specimen of “exquisitely fine lining,” and when told that such +wood-<i>peckings</i> are, as works of art, much inferior to the +productions of Bewick, he asks where his works are to be found; and +after he has examined them he pronounces them “coarse and +tasteless,—the rude efforts of a <i>country</i> engraver,” and not +to be compared with certain delicate, but spiritless, wood engravings of +the present day.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_585" id = "illus_585"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_585.png" width = "59" height = "78" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>With respect to the direction of lines, it ought at all times to be +borne in mind by the wood engraver,—and more especially when the +lines are not <i>laid in</i> by the designer,—that they should be +disposed so as to denote the peculiar form of the object they are +intended to represent. For instance, in the limb of a figure they ought +not to run horizontally or vertically,—conveying the idea of +either a flat surface or of a hard cylindrical form,—but with a +gentle curvature suitable to the shape and the degree of rotundity +required. A well chosen line makes a great difference in properly +representing an object, when compared with one less appropriate, though +more delicate. The proper disposition of lines will not only express the +form required, but also produce more <i>colour</i> as they approach each +other in approximating curves, as in the following example, and thus +represent a variety of light and shade, without the necessity of +introducing other lines crossing them, which ought always to be avoided +in small subjects: if, however, the figures be large, it is necessary to +break the hard appearance of a series of such single lines by crossing +them with others more delicate.</p> + +<p>In cutting curved lines, considerable difficulty is experienced by +not commencing properly. For instance, if in executing a series of such +lines as are shown in the preceding cut, the engraver commences at A, +and works towards B, the tool will always be apt to cut through the +black line already formed; whereas by commencing at B, and working +towards A, the graver is always outside of the curve, and consequently +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page586" id = "page586"> +586</a></span> +never touches the lines previously cut.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX17" +id = "tagIX17" href = "#noteIX17">IX.17</a> This difference ought always +to be borne in mind when engraving a series of curved lines, as, by +commencing properly, the work is executed with greater freedom and ease, +while the inconvenience arising from slips is avoided. When such lines +are introduced to represent the rotundity of a limb, with a break of +white in the middle expressive of its greatest prominence, as is shown +in the following figure A, it is advisable that they should be first +<i>laid in</i> as if intended to be continuous, as is seen in figure B, +and the part which appears white in A <i>lowered</i> out before +beginning to cut them, as by this means all risk of their disagreeing, +as in C, will be avoided.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_586" id = "illus_586"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_586a.png" width = "336" height = "84" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<img src = "images/illus_586b.png" width = "116" height = "215" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The rotundity of a column or similar object is represented by means +of parallel lines, which are comparatively open in the middle where +light is required, but which are engraved closer and thicker towards the +sides to express shade. The effect of such lines will be rendered more +evident by comparing the column in the annexed cut with the square base, +which is represented by a series of equidistant lines, each of the same +thickness as those in the middle of the column.</p> + +<p>Many more examples of tints and simple lines might be given; but, as +no real benefit would be derived from them, it is needless to increase +the number, and make “much ado about nothing.” Every new subject that +the engraver commences presents something new for him to effect, and +requires the exercise of his taste and judgment as to the best mode of +executing it, so that the whole may have some claim to the character of +a work of art. If a thousand examples were given, they would not enable +an engraver to +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page587" id = "page587"> +587</a></span> +execute a subject properly, unless he were endowed with that indefinable +<i>feeling</i> which at once suggests the best means of attaining his +end. Such feeling may indeed be excited, but can never be perfectly +communicated by rules and examples. In this respect every artist, +whether a humble wood engraver, or a sculptor or a painter of the +highest class, must be self-instructed; the feeling displayed in his +works must be the result of his own perceptions and ideas of beauty and +propriety. It is the difference in feeling, rather than any greater or +less degree of excellence in the mechanical execution, that +distinguishes the paintings of Raffaele from those of Le Brun, Flaxman’s +statues from those of Roubilliac, and the cuts in the Lyons Dance of +Death from many of the laborious inanities of the present day.</p> + +<p>Clear, unruffled water, and all bright and smooth metallic +substances, are best represented by single lines; for if cross-lines be +introduced, except to indicate a strong shadow, it gives to them the +appearance of roughness, which is not at all in accordance with the +ideas which such substances naturally excite. Objects which appear to +reflect brilliant flashes of light ought to be carefully dealt with, +leaving <i>plenty of black</i> as a ground-work, for in wood engravings +such lights can only be effectively represented by contrast with deep +<i>colour</i>. Reflected lights are in general best represented by means +of single lines running in the direction of the object, with a few +touches of white judiciously taken out. In this respect Clennell +particularly excelled as a wood engraver. Painting itself can scarcely +represent reflected lights with greater effect than he has expressed +them in several of his cuts. In Harvey’s large cut of the Death of +Dentatus, after Haydon’s noble picture, the shield of Dentatus affords +an instance of reflected light most admirably represented.</p> + +<p>As my object is to point out to the uninitiated the method of cutting +certain lines, rather than to engage in the fruitless task of showing +how such lines are to be generally applied, I shall now proceed to +offer a few observations on engraving in outline, a process with +which the learner ought to be well acquainted before he attempts +subjects consisting of complicated lines. The word <i>outline</i> in +wood engraving has two meanings: it is used, first, to denote the +distinct boundaries of all kinds of objects; and secondly, to denote the +delicate white line that is cut round any figure or object in order to +form a boundary to the lines by which such figure or object is +surrounded, and to thus allow of their easier liberation: it forms as it +were a terminal furrow into which the lines surrounding the figure run. +In speaking of this second outline in future, it will be distinguished +as the <i>white outline</i>; while the other, which properly defines the +different figures and forms, will be called the true or proper outline, +or simply +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page588" id = "page588"> +588</a></span> +the outline, without any distinctive additional term. As the white +outline ought never to be distinctly visible in an impression, care +ought to be taken, more especially where the adjacent tint is dark, not +to cut it too deep or too wide. In the first of the two following cuts, +the white outline, intentionally cut rather wider than is necessary, is +distinctly seen from its contrast with the dark parts immediately in +contact with it.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_588" id = "illus_588"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_588a.png" width = "271" height = "216" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "continue"> +In the second cut of the same subject, with a different back-ground, it +is less visible in consequence of the parts adjacent being light. It is, +however, still distinctly seen in the shadow of the feet; but it is +shown here purposely to point out an error which is sometimes committed +by cutting a white outline where, as in these parts, it is not required. +The white outline is here quite unnecessary, as the two blacks +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page589" id = "page589"> +589</a></span> +ought not to be separated in such a manner; the proper intention of the +white outline is not so much to define the form of the figure or object, +but, as has been already explained, to make an incision in the wood as a +boundary to <i>other lines</i> coming against it, and to allow of their +being clearly liberated without injury to the proper outline of the +object: when a line is cut to such a boundary, the small shaving forced +out by the graver becomes immediately released, without the point of the +tool coming in contact with the true outline. The old German wood +engravers, who chiefly engraved large subjects on apple or pear tree, +and on the <i>side</i> of the wood, were not in the habit of cutting a +white outline round their figures before they began to engrave them, and +hence in their cuts objects frequently appear <i>to stick</i> to each +other. The practice is now, however, so general, that in many modern +wood-cuts a white line is improperly seen surrounding every figure.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/illus_588b.png" width = "177" height = "184" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>In proceeding to engrave figures, it is advisable to commence with +such as consist of little more than outline, and have no shades +expressed by cross-lines. The first step in executing such a subject is +to cut a white line on each side of the pencilled lines which are to +remain in relief of the height of the plane surface of the block, and to +form the impression when it is printed. A cut when thus engraved, +and previous to the parts which are white, when printed, being cut away, +or, in technical language, <i>blocked out</i>, would present the +following appearance.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX18" id = "tagIX18" +href = "#noteIX18">IX.18</a></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_589" id = "illus_589"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_589.png" width = "322" height = "175" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "continue"> +It is, however, necessary to observe that all the parts which require to +be blocked away have been purposely retained in this cut in order to +show more clearly the manner in which it is executed; for the engraver +usually cuts away as he proceeds all the black masses seen within the +subject. A wide margin of solid wood round the edges of the cut is, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page590" id = "page590"> +590</a></span> +however, generally allowed to remain until a proof be taken when the +engraving is finished, as it affords a support to the paper, and +prevents the exterior lines of the subject from appearing too hard. This +margin, where room is allowed, is separated from the engraved parts by a +moderately deep and wide furrow, and is covered with a piece of paper +serving as a <i>frisket</i> in taking a proof impression by means of +friction. In clearing away such of the black parts in the preceding cut +as require to be removed, it is necessary to proceed with great care in +order to avoid breaking down or cutting through the lines which are to +be left in relief. When the cut is properly cleared out and blocked +away, it is then finished, and when printed will appear thus:</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_590a" id = "illus_590a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_590a.png" width = "316" height = "161" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Sculptures and bas-reliefs of any kind are generally best represented +by simple outlines, with delicate parallel lines, running horizontally, +to represent the ground. The following cut is from a design by Flaxman +for the front of a gold snuff-box made by Rundell and Bridge for George +IV. about 1827.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_590b" id = "illus_590b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_590b.png" width = "341" height = "92" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "continue"> +The subject of this design was intended to commemorate the General Peace +concluded in 1814: to the left Agriculture is seen flourishing under the +auspices of Peace; while to the right a youthful figure is seen placing +a wreath above the helmet of a warrior; the trophy indicates his +services, and opposite to him is seated a figure of Victory. The three +other sides, and the top and bottom, were also +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page591" id = "page591"> +591</a></span> +embellished with figures and ornaments in relief designed by Flaxman. +The whole of the dies were cut in steel by Henning and Son—so well +known to admirers of art from their beautiful reduced copies and +restorations of the sculptures of the Parthenon preserved in the British +Museum—and from these dies the plates of gold composing the box +were struck, so that the figures appear in slight relief. A blank +space was left in the top of the box for an enamel portrait of the King, +which was afterwards inserted, surrounded with diamonds, and the margin +of the lid was also ornamented in the same manner. This box is perhaps +the most beautiful of the kind ever executed in any country: it may +justly challenge a comparison with the drinking cups by Benvenuto +Cellini, the dagger hafts designed by Durer, or the salts by Hans +Holbein. The process of engraving in this style is extremely simple, as +it is only necessary to leave the lines drawn in pencil untouched, and +to cut away the wood on each side of them. An amateur may without much +trouble teach himself to execute cuts in this manner, or to engrave +fac-similes of small pen-and-ink sketches such as the annexed.<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIX19" id = "tagIX19" href = "#noteIX19">IX.19</a></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_591" id = "illus_591"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_591.png" width = "103" height = "138" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Having now explained the mode of procedure in outline engraving, it +seems necessary, before proceeding to speak of more complicated +subjects, to say a few words respecting drawings made on the block; for, +however well the engraving may be executed, the cut which is a +fac-simile of a bad drawing can never be a good one. An artist’s +knowledge of drawing is put to the test when he begins to make designs +on wood; he cannot resort, as in painting, to the trick of colour to +conceal the defects of his outlines. To be efficient in the engraving, +his principal figures must be distinctly made out; a drawing on the +wood admits of no <i>scumbling</i>; black and white are the only means +by which the subject can be represented; and if he be ignorant of the +proper management of chiaro-scuro, and incorrect and feeble in his +drawing, he will not be able +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page592" id = "page592"> +592</a></span> +to produce a really good design for the wood engraver. Many persons can +paint a tolerably good picture who are utterly incapable of making a +passable drawing on wood. Their drawing will not stand the test of +simple black and white; they can indicate generalities “indifferently +well” by means of positive colours, but they cannot delineate individual +forms correctly with the black-lead pencil. It is from this cause that +we have so very few persons who professedly make designs for wood +engravers; and hence the sameness of character that is to be found in so +many modern wood-cuts. It is not unusual for many second and third rate +painters, when applied to for a drawing for a wood-cut, to speak +slightingly of the art, and to decline to furnish the design required. +This generally results rather from a consciousness of their own +incapacity than from any real contempt for the art. As greater painters +than any now living have made designs for wood engravers in former +times, a second or third rate painter of the present day surely +could not be much degraded by doing the same. The true reason for the +refusal, however, is generally to be found in such painter’s +incapacity.</p> + +<p>The two next cuts, both drawn from the same sketch,<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIX20" id = "tagIX20" href = "#noteIX20">IX.20</a> but by +different persons, will show how much depends upon having a good, +artist-like drawing. The first is meagre; the second, on the contrary, +is remarkably spirited, and the additional lines which are introduced +not only give effect to the figure, but also in printing form a support +to the more delicate parts of the outline.</p> + +<div class = "picture"> +<div class = "picblock w200"> +<p><a name = "illus_592" id = "illus_592"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_592a.png" width = "176" height = "248" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No 1.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "picblock"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_592b.png" width = "194" height = "257" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page593" id = "page593"> +593</a></span> +<p>Though a learner in proceeding from one subject to another more +complicated will doubtless meet with difficulties which may occasionally +damp his ardour, yet he will encounter none which will not yield to +earnest perseverance. As it is not likely that any amateur practising +the art merely for amusement would be inclined to test his patience by +proceeding beyond outline engraving, the succeeding remarks are more +especially addressed to those who may wish to apply themselves to wood +engraving as a profession.</p> + +<p>When beginning to engrave in outline, it is advisable that the +subjects first attempted should be of the most simple +kind,—similar, for instance, to the preceding figure marked +No. 1. When facility in executing cuts in this style is obtained, +the learner may proceed to engrave such as are slightly shaded, and have +a back-ground indicated as in No. 2. He may next proceed to +subjects containing a greater variety of lines, and requiring greater +neatness of execution, but should by no means endeavour to get on too +fast by attempting to do <i>much</i> before he can do a little +<i>well</i>. Whatever kind of subject be chosen, particular attention +ought to be paid to the causes of failure and success in the execution. +By diligently noting what produces a good effect in certain subjects, he +will, under similar circumstances, be prepared to apply the same means; +and by attending to the faults in his work he will be the more careful +to avoid them in future. The group of figures here, selected from Sir +David Wilkie’s picture of the Rent Day, will serve as an example of a +cut executed by comparatively simple means; the subject is also +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page594" id = "page594"> +594</a></span> +such a one as a pupil may attempt after he has made some progress in +engraving slightly shaded figures. There are no complicated lines which +are difficult to execute; the hatchings are few, and of simple +character; and for the execution of the whole, as here represented, +nothing is required but a <i>feeling</i> for the subject; and a moderate +degree of skill in the use of the graver, combined with patient +application.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_593" id = "illus_593"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_593.png" width = "297" height = "285" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>When the pupil is thus far advanced, he ought, in subjects of this +kind, to avoid introducing more work, more especially in the features, +than he can execute with comparative facility and precision; for, by +attempting to attain excellence before he has arrived at mediocrity, he +will be very likely to fail, and instead of having reason to +congratulate himself on his success, experience nothing but +disappointment. To make wood engraving an interesting, instead of an +irksome study to young persons, I would recommend for their +practice not only such subjects as are likely to engage their attention, +but also such as they may be able to finish before they become weary of +their task. At this period every endeavour ought to be made to smooth +the pupil’s way by giving him such subjects to execute as will rather +serve to stimulate his exertions than exhaust his patience. Little +characteristic figures, like the one here copied, from one of Hogarth’s +plates of the Four Parts of the Day, seem most suitable for this +purpose. A subject of this kind does not contain so much work as to +render a young person tired of it before +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page595" id = "page595"> +595</a></span> +it be finished; while at the same time it serves to exercise him in the +practice of the art and to engage his attention.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_594" id = "illus_594"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_594.png" width = "225" height = "296" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>When a pupil feels no interest in what he is employed on, he will +seldom execute his work well; and when he is kept too long in engraving +subjects that merely try his patience, he is apt to lose all taste for +the art, and become a mere mechanical cutter of lines, without caring +for what they express.</p> + +<p>Such a cut as the following—copied from an etching by +Rembrandt—will form a useful exercise to the pupil, after he has +attained facility in the execution of outline subjects, while at the +same time it will serve to display the excellent effect in wood +engravings of well contrasted light and shade. The hog—which is +here the principal object—immediately arrests the eye, while the +figures in the back-ground, being introduced merely to aid the +composition and form a medium between the dark colour of the animal and +the white paper, consist of little more than outline, and are +comparatively light. In engraving the hog, it is necessary to exercise a +little judgment in representing the bristly hair, and in <i>touching</i> +the details effectively.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_595" id = "illus_595"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_595.png" width = "307" height = "268" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>When a learner has made some progress, he may attempt such a cut as +that on the next page in order to exercise himself in the appropriate +representation of animal texture. The subject is a dray-horse, formerly +belonging to Messrs. Meux and Co., and the drawing was made on the block +by James Ward, R.A., one of the most distinguished animal painters of +the present time. Such a cut, though executed by simple +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page596" id = "page596"> +596</a></span> +means, affords an excellent test of a learner’s skill and +discrimination: the hide is smooth and glossy; the mane is thick and +tangled; the long flowing hair of the tail has to be represented in a +proper manner; and the markings of the joints require the exercise of +both judgment and skill. By attending to such distinctions at the +commencement of his career, he will find less difficulty in representing +objects by appropriate texture when he shall have made greater progress, +and will not be entirely dependent on a designer to <i>lay in</i> for +him every line. An engraver who requires every line to be drawn, and who +is only capable of executing a fac-simile of a design made for him on +the block, can never excel.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_596" id = "illus_596"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_596.png" width = "329" height = "205" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>As enough perhaps has been said in explanation of the manner of +cutting tints, and of figures chiefly represented by single lines, +I shall now give a cut—Jacob blessing the children of +Joseph—in which single-lined figures and tint are combined. It is +necessary to observe that this cut is not introduced as a good specimen +of engraving, but as being well adapted, from the simplicity of its +execution, to illustrate what I have to say. The figures are represented +by single lines, which require the exercise of no great degree of skill; +and by the introduction of a varied tint as a back-ground the cut +appears like a complete subject, and not like a sketch, or a detached +group.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to remark here, that when comparatively light +objects, such as the figures here seen, are to be relieved by a tint of +any kind, whether darker or lighter, such objects are now generally +separated from it by a black outline. The reason for leaving such an +outline in parts where the conjunction of the tint and the figures does +not render it absolutely <i>necessary</i> is this: as those parts in a +cut which appear white +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page597" id = "page597"> +597</a></span> +in the impression are to be cut away—as has already been +explained,—it frequently happens that when they are cut away +<i>first</i>, and the tint cut afterwards, the wood breaks away near the +termination of the line before the tool arrives at the blank or white. +It is, therefore, extremely difficult to preserve a distinct outline in +this manner, and hence a black <i>conventional</i> outline is introduced +in those parts where properly there ought to be none, except such as is +formed by the tint <i>relieving</i> against the white parts, as is seen +in the back part of the head of Jacob in the present cut, where there is +no other outline than that which is formed by the tint relieving against +his white cap. Bewick used to execute all his subjects in this manner; +but he not unfrequently carried this principle too far, not only running +the lines of his tints into the white on the <i>light</i> side of his +figures,—that is, on the side on which the light falls,—but +also on both sides of a light object.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_597" id = "illus_597"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_597.png" width = "274" height = "310" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Before dismissing this part of the subject, it is necessary to +observe further, that when the white parts are cut away before the tint +is introduced, the conventional black outline is very liable to be cut +through by the tool slipping. This will be rendered more intelligible by +an inspection of the following cut,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX21" id += "tagIX21" href = "#noteIX21">IX.21</a> where the house is seen +finished, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page598" id = "page598"> +598</a></span> +and the part where a tint is intended to be subsequently engraved +appears black. Any person in the least acquainted with the practice of +wood engraving, will perceive, that should the tool happen to slip when +near the finished parts, in coming directly towards them, it will be +very likely to cut the outline through, and to make a breach in +proportion as such outline may be thin, and thus yield more readily to +the force of the tool.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_598" id = "illus_598"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_598a.png" width = "214" height = "144" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>When the tint is cut <i>first</i>, instead of being left to be +executed last, as it would be in the preceding cut, the mass of wood out +of which the house is subsequently engraved serves as a kind of barrier +to the tool in the event of its slipping, and allows of the tint being +cut with less risk quite up to the white outline. By attending to such +matters, and considering what part of a subject can be most safely +executed first, a learner will both avoid the risk of cutting +through his outline, and be enabled to execute his work with comparative +facility. The following cut is an example of the tint being cut first. +For the information of those who are unacquainted with the process of +wood engraving, it is necessary to remark that the parts which appear +positively black are those which remain untouched by the graver.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/illus_598b.png" width = "216" height = "129" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page599" id = "page599"> +599</a></span> + +<p>The following subject, copied from one of Rembrandt’s etchings, is +chiefly represented by black lines crossing each other. Such lines, +usually termed <i>cross-hatchings</i>, are executed with great facility +in copper and steel, where they are cut <i>into</i> the metal; but in +wood engraving, where they are left in <i>relief</i>, it requires +considerable time and attention to execute them with delicacy and +precision. In order to explain more clearly the difficulty of executing +cross-hatchings, let it be conceived that this cut is a drawing made on +a block, and that the engraver’s object is to produce a fac-simile of +it: now, as each black line is to be left in relief, it is evident that +he cannot imitate the cross-hatchings seen in the arms, the neck, and +other parts, by cutting the lines continuously as in engraving on +copper, which puts black <i>in</i> by means of an incision, while in +wood engraving a similar line takes it <i>out</i>. As the wood engraver, +then, can only obtain white by cutting out the parts that are to appear +so in the impression, while the black is to be left in relief, the only +manner in which he is enabled to represent <i>cross-hatchings</i>, or +<i>black lines crossing each other</i>, is to cut out singly with his +graver every one of the white interstices. Such an operation, as will be +evident from an inspection of this cut, necessarily requires not only +patience, but also considerable skill to perform it in a proper +manner,—that is, to cut each +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page600" id = "page600"> +600</a></span> +white space cleanly out, and to preserve the lines of a regular +thickness. From the supposed impossibility of executing such cross +lines, it has been conjectured that many of the old wood-cuts containing +such work were engraved in metallic relief: this opinion, however, is +sufficiently refuted, by the fact of hundreds of blocks containing +cross-hatchings being still in existence, and by the much more delicate +and difficult work of the same kind displayed in modern wood engravings. +Not only are cross-hatchings of the greatest delicacy now executed in +England, but to such a degree of refinement is the process occasionally +carried, that small black <i>touches</i>—such as may be perceived +in the preceding cut in the folds of the sleeve above the elbow of the +right arm—are left in the white interstices between the lines. +Cross-hatchings, where the interstices are entirely white, are executed +by means of a lozenge-pointed tool, and the piece of wood is removed at +two <i>cuts</i>, each beginning at the opposite angles. Where a small +black touch is left within the interstices, the operation becomes more +difficult, and is performed by cutting round such minute touch of black +with a finely pointed graver.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_599" id = "illus_599"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_599.png" width = "296" height = "329" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The various conjectures that have been propounded respecting the mode +in which cross-hatchings have been effected in old wood-cuts require no +argument to refute them, as they are directly contradicted both by +undoubted historical facts, and by every day’s experience. Vegetable +putties, punches, and metallic relief are nothing but the trifling +speculations of persons who are fonder of propounding theories to +display their own ingenuity than willing to investigate facts in order +to arrive at the truth. It has happened rather unfortunately, that most +persons who have hitherto written upon the subject have known very +little about the practice of wood engraving, and have not thought it +worth their while to consult those who were able to give them +information. There is, however, no fear now of a young wood engraver +being deterred from attempting cross-hatchings on learning from certain +heretofore authorities on the subject that such work could not be +executed on wood. He now laughs at <i>vegetable putties</i>, +<i>square-pointed punches</i> for indenting the block to produce +cross-hatchings, and <i>metallic relief</i>: by means of his graver +alone he produces a practical refutation of every baseless theory that +has been propounded on the subject.</p> + +<p>The right leg of Dentatus in Mr. Harvey’s large wood engraving after +Mr. Haydon’s picture is perhaps the most beautiful specimen of +cross-hatching that ever was executed on wood; and, in my opinion, it is +the best engraved part of the whole subject. Through the kindness of Mr. +Harvey, I have obtained a cast of this portion of the block, from +which the present impression is printed. The lines showing the muscular +rotundity and action of the limb are as admirably <i>laid in</i> as they +are beautifully engraved. In the wider and stronger cross-hatchings +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page601" id = "page601"> +601</a></span> +of the drapery above, the small black touches previously mentioned are +perceived in the lozenge-shaped interstices.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_601" id = "illus_601"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_601.png" width = "324" height = "477" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>From an opinion that the excellence of an engraving consists chiefly +in the difficulty of its execution, we now frequently find +cross-hatchings in several modern wood-cuts, more especially in such as +are manufactured for the French market, where a better effect would have +been produced by simpler means. Cross-hatchings, <i>properly +introduced</i>, undoubtedly improve a subject; and some parts of large +figures, such as the leg of Dentatus, cannot be well expressed without +their aid, as a series of curved lines on a limb, when not crossed, +generally cause it to appear stiff and rigid. By crossing them, however, +by other lines properly <i>laid in</i>, the part assumes a most soft and +natural appearance.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page602" id = "page602"> +602</a></span> +<p>As the greatest advantage which wood engraving possesses over copper +is the effective manner in which strongly contrasted light and shade can +be represented, Rembrandt’s etchings,—which, like his paintings, +are distinguished by the skilful management of the +chiaro-scuro—form excellent studies for the engraver or designer +on wood who should wish to become well acquainted with the capabilities +of the art. A delicate wood-cut, executed in imitation of a smooth +steel-engraving of “sober grey” tone, is sure to be tame and insipid; +and whenever wood engravers attempt to give to their cuts the appearance +of copper or steel-plates, and neglect the peculiar advantages of their +own art, they are sure to fail, notwithstanding the pains they may +bestow. Their work, instead of being commended as a successful +application of the peculiar means of the art, is in effect condemned by +being regarded as “a clever <i>imitation</i> of a +copper-plate.”</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_602" id = "illus_602"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_602.png" width = "323" height = "360" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The above cut of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, copied from an +etching by Rembrandt, will perhaps more forcibly illustrate what has +been said with respect to wood engraving being excellently adapted to +effectively express strong contrasts of light and shade. The original +etching—which has been faithfully copied—is a good example +of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page603" id = "page603"> +603</a></span> +Rembrandt’s consummate skill in the management of chiaro-scuro; +everything that he has wished to forcibly express immediately arrests +the eye, while in the whole design nothing appears abrupt. The extremes +of light and shade concentre in the principal figure, that of Christ, +and to this everything else in the composition is either subordinate or +accessory. The middle tint under the arched passage forms a medium +between the darkness of Christ’s robe and the shade under the curve of +the nearest arch, and the light in the front of his figure is gradually +carried off to the left through the medium of the woman and the distant +buildings, which gradually approach to the colour of the paper. Were a +tint, however delicate, introduced in this subject to represent the sky, +the effect would be destroyed; the parts which are now so effective +would appear spotted and confused, and have a crude, unfinished +appearance. By the injudicious introduction of a tinted sky many +wood-cuts, which would otherwise be striking and effective, are quite +spoiled.</p> + +<p>It but too frequently happens when works are illustrated with +wood-cuts, that subjects are chosen which the art cannot successfully +represent. Whether the work to be illustrated be matter of fact or +fiction, the designer, unless he be acquainted both with the +capabilities and defects of the art, seldom thinks of more than making a +drawing according to his own fancy, and never takes into consideration +the means by which it has to be executed. To this inattention may be +traced many failures in works illustrated with wood-cuts, and for which +the engraver is censured, although he may have, with great care and +skill, accomplished all that the art could effect. An artist who is +desirous that his designs, when engraved on wood, should appear like +impressions from <i>over-done</i> steel-plates, ought never to be +employed to make drawings for wood engravers: he does not understand the +peculiar advantages of the art, and his designs will only have a +tendency to bring it into contempt, while those who execute them will be +blamed for the defects which are the result of his want of +knowledge.</p> + +<p>Delicate wood engravings which are made to look well in a proof on +India paper by rubbing the ink partially off the block in the lighter +parts—in the manner described by Papillon at page +466—generally present a very different appearance when printed, +either with or without types in the same page. Lines which are cut too +thin are very liable to turn down in printing from their want of +support; and hence cuts consisting chiefly of such lines are seldom so +durable as those which display more black, and are executed in a more +bold and effective style. A designer who understands the +peculiarities of wood engraving will avoid introducing delicate lines in +parts where they receive no support from others of greater strength or +closeness near to them, but are exposed +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page604" id = "page604"> +604</a></span> +to the unmitigated force of the press. Cuts in proportion to the +quantity of <i>colour</i> which they display are so much the better +enabled to bear the action of the press; the delicate lines which they +contain, from their receiving support from the others, are not only less +liable to break down, but, from their contrast with the darker parts of +the subject, appear to greater advantage than in a cut which is of a +uniformly grey tone. I am not, however, the advocate of +<i>black</i>, and little else, in a wood-cut; on the contrary, I am +perfectly aware of the absurdity of introducing patches of black without +either meaning or effect. What I wish to inculcate is, that a wood-cut +to have a good effect must contain more of properly contrasted black and +white than those who wish their cuts to appear like imitations of steel +or copper-plate engravings are willing to allow. As wood engraving is +not well adapted to represent subjects requiring great delicacy of lines +and variety of tints, such will be generally avoided by a designer who +understands the art; while, on the contrary, he will avail himself of +its advantages in representing well contrasted light and shade in a +manner superior to either copper-plate or steel engraving. Of all modern +engravers on wood, none understood the advantages of their art in this +respect better than Bewick and Clennell: the cuts of their engraving are +generally the most effective that have ever been executed.</p> + +<p>Night-pieces, where the light is seen proceeding from a lantern, +a lamp, or any other luminous object, can be well represented by +means of wood engraving, although such subjects are very seldom +attempted. An engraved wood-block, which contains a considerable +proportion of positive black, prints much better than a copper-plate +engraving of the same kind; in the former the ink is distributed of an +even thickness over the <i>surface</i>, and is evenly pressed upon the +paper; in the latter the ink forms a little pool in the <i>hollowed +parts</i>, and, instead of being evenly taken up by the paper which is +<i>pressed into</i> it, adheres only partially, thus giving in the +corresponding parts a blurred appearance to the impression. For the +effective representation of such scenes as Meg Merrilies watching by a +feeble light the dying struggles of a smuggler, or Dirk Hatterick in the +Cave, from Sir Walter Scott’s Guy Mannering, wood engraving is +peculiarly adapted,—that is, supposing the designer, in addition +to possessing a knowledge of chiaro-scuro, to be also capable of drawing +correctly, and of treating the subject with proper <i>feeling</i>. Some +idea of the capability of the art in this respect may be formed from the +following cut—the Flight into Egypt,—copied from an etching +by Rembrandt. The mere work in this cut is of a very simple character; +there are no lines of difficult execution; and the only parts that are +lowered are those which represent the rays of light seen proceeding from +the lantern.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page605" id = "page605"> +605</a></span> +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_605" id = "illus_605"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_605.png" width = "320" height = "386" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>As the wood engraver can always get his subject <i>lighter</i>, but +cannot reproduce the black which he has cut away, he ought to be careful +not to get his subject too light before he has taken a proof; and even +in reducing the <i>colour</i> according to the touchings of the designer +on the proof, he ought to proceed with great circumspection; and where +his own judgment informs him that to take out all the black marked for +excision would be to spoil the cut, the safest mode would be to take out +only a part, and not remove all at once; for by strictly adhering to the +directions of an artist who knows very little of the real advantages of +wood engraving, it will not unfrequently happen that the cut so amended +will to himself, when printed, appear worse than it did in its first +state. In the following cut too much has been done in this respect; it +has been touched and retouched so often, in order to make it appear +delicate, that the spirit of the original drawing has been entirely +lost. In this instance the fault was not that of the artist, but of the +engraver, who “would not let well alone;” but, in order to improve his +work, as he +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page606" id = "page606"> +606</a></span> +fancied, kept <i>trimming</i> the parts which gave effect to the whole +till he made it what it now appears. So far as relates to the execution +of the lines, the subject need not have been better; but, from the +engraver’s having taken away too much colour in places where it was +necessary, the whole has the appearance of middle tint, the excellence +of the original drawing is lost, and in its stead we have a dull, misty, +spiritless wood engraving.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_606a" id = "illus_606a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_606a.png" width = "331" height = "240" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>In every cut there ought to be a principal object to first arrest the +attention; and if this cannot be effected from want of interest in such +object considered singly, the designer ought to make the general subject +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page607" id = "page607"> +607</a></span> +pleasing to the eye by skilful composition or combination of forms, and +the effective distribution of light and shade.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_606b" id = "illus_606b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_606b.png" width = "337" height = "244" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The preceding cut—a moonlight scene—when compared with +the previous one, will show how much depends on an engraver having a +proper <i>feeling</i> for his subject. So far as relates to the mere +execution of the lines, this cut is decidedly inferior to the former; +but, viewed as a production of art, and as a spirited representation of +the original drawing, it is very much superior: in the former we see +little more than mechanical dexterity; while in the latter we perceive +that the engraver has, from a greater knowledge of his art, produced a +pleasing effect by comparatively simple means. The former cut displays +more mechanical skill; the latter more artistic feeling. The one +contains much delicate work, but is deficient in spirit; the other, +which has been produced with little more than half the labour, is more +effective because the subject has been better understood.</p> + +<p>The following cut, representing a landscape, with the effect of the +setting sun, displays great delicacy of execution; but the labour here +is not thrown away, as in the sea-piece just mentioned: manual dexterity +in the use of the graver is combined with the knowledge of an artist, +and the result is a wood engraving at once delicate in execution and +spirited in its general effect.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_607" id = "illus_607"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_607.png" width = "337" height = "242" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>A volume might be filled with examples and comments on them, and I +might, like Papillon, <i>instruct</i> the reader in the practice of the +art, by informing him how many times the graver would have to enter the +wood in order to produce a certain number of lines in relief; but I have +no inclination to do either the one or the other: my object is to make +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page608" id = "page608"> +608</a></span> +a few observations on some of the most important and least understood +points in the practice of wood engraving, and to illustrate them with +examples, rather than to enter into minute details, which would be +uninteresting to the general reader, and useless to the learner who has +made any progress in the art. The person who wishes to acquire a +knowledge of wood engraving, with the view of practising it +professionally, must generally be guided by his own judgment and +feeling; for he who requires the aid of rules and examples in every +possible case will never attain excellence. A learner ought not to +put much trust in what is said about the beautiful wood-cuts—or +<i>plates</i>, as some critics call them—which appear in modern +publications. He ought to examine for himself, and not pin his faith to +ephemeral commendations, which are often the customary acknowledgment +for a presentation copy of the work. It is not unusual to find very +ordinary wood-cuts praised as displaying the very perfection of the art, +while others of much greater merit are entirely overlooked.</p> + +<p>The person who wishes to excel as a wood engraver,—that is, to +display in his cuts the knowledge and feeling of an artist, as well as +the mechanical dexterity of a workman,—ought always to bear in +mind that those who rank highest in modern times, not only as engravers, +but also as designers on wood, have generally adopted the simplest means +of effecting their purpose, and have never introduced unmeaning +cross-hatchings, when working from their own drawings, merely to display +their skill in execution. In representing a peasant supping his +porridge, they have not spent a day on the figure, and two in delicately +engraving the bowl. It may almost be said that Bewick never employed +cross-hatchings; for, in the two or three instances in which he +introduced such lines, it has been rather for the sake of experiment +than to improve the appearance of the cut. Though one of the finest +specimens of this kind of work ever executed on wood is to be found in +Mr. Harvey’s cut of Dentatus, yet, on other occasions, when he engraved +his own designs, he seldom introduced cross-hatchings when he could +accomplish the same object by simpler means. A wood engraving, +viewed as a <i>work of art</i>, is <i>not</i> good in proportion as many +of its parts have the appearance of fine lace. Bewick’s birds and +tail-pieces are not, in my opinion, less excellent because they do not +display so much <i>work</i> as a modern wood-cut which contains numerous +cross-hatchings. Several of the best French designers on wood of the +present day appear to have formed erroneous opinions on this subject; +and hence we find in many of their designs much of the engraver’s time +spent in the execution of parts which are unimportant, while others, +where expression or feeling ought to be shown, are treated in a careless +manner. Many of their designs seem to have been made rather to test the +patience +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page609" id = "page609"> +609</a></span> +of the engraver as a <i>workman</i> than to display his ability as an +<i>artist</i>. The following cut, from a cast of a part of the Death of +Dentatus, is introduced to show in how simple and effective a manner Mr. +Harvey has represented the shield of the hero. An inferior artist would +be very likely to represent such an object by means of complicated +lines, which, while they would be less effective, would require nearly a +week to engrave.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_609" id = "illus_609"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_609.png" width = "401" height = "507" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Considering the number of wood engravings that are yearly executed in +this country, it is rather surprising that there should hitherto have +been so few persons capable of making a good drawing on wood. Till +within +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page610" id = "page610"> +610</a></span> +the last few years, it might be said that there was probably not more +than one <i>artist</i> in the kingdom possessing a knowledge of design +who professionally devoted himself to making drawings on the block for +wood engravers. Whenever a good original design is wanted, there are +still but few persons to whom the English wood engraver can apply with +the certainty of obtaining it; for though some of our most distinguished +painters have occasionally furnished designs to be engraved on wood, it +has mostly been as a matter of especial favour to an individual who had +an interest in the work in which such designs were to appear. In this +respect we are behind our French neighbours; the more common kind of +French wood-cuts containing figures are much superior to our own of the +same class; the drawing is much more correct, more attention is paid to +costume, and in the details we perceive the indications of much greater +knowledge of art than is generally to be found in the productions of our +second-rate occasional designers on wood. It cannot be said that this +deficiency results from want of encouragement; for a designer on wood, +of even moderate abilities, is better paid for his drawings than a +second-rate painter is for his pictures. The truth is, that a taste for +correct drawing has hitherto not been sufficiently cultivated in +England: our artists are painters before they can draw; and hence, +comparatively few can make a good design on wood. They require the aid +of positive colours to deceive the eye, and prevent it from resting upon +the defects of their drawing. It is therefore of great importance that a +wood engraver should have some knowledge of drawing himself, in order +that he may be able to correct many of the defects that are to be found +in the commoner kind of subjects sent to him to be engraved.</p> + +<p>In the execution of subjects which require considerable time, but +little more than the exercise of mechanical skill, it is frequently +advisable to adopt the principle of <i>the division of labour</i>, and +have the work performed, as it were, by instalments, allotting to each +person that portion of the subject which he is likely to execute best. +In this manner the annexed cut of Rouen Cathedral has been engraved by +four different persons; and the result of their joint labours is such a +work as not even the best engraver of the four could have executed by +himself. Each having to do but a little, and that of the kind of work in +which he excelled, has worked <i>con amore</i>, and finished his task +before he became weary of it.</p> + +<div class = "picture w450"> +<p><a name = "illus_611" id = "illus_611"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_611.png" width = "408" height = "585" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +ROUEN CATHEDRAL.</p> +</div> + +<p>Though copper-plate engraving has a great advantage over wood when +applied to the execution of maps, in consequence of the greater delicacy +that can be given to the different shades and lines, indicating hills, +rivers, and the boundaries of districts, and also from the number of +names that can be introduced, and from the comparative facility of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page611" id = "page611"> +611</a></span> +executing them; yet, as maps engraved on copper, however simple they may +be, require to be printed separately, by means of a <ins class = +"correction" title = "comma invisible">rolling-press,</ins> the +unavoidable expense frequently renders it impossible to give such maps, +even when necessary, in books published at a low price. Under +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page612" id = "page612"> +612</a></span> +such circumstances, where little more than outlines, with the course of +rivers, and comparatively few names, are required, wood engraving +possesses an advantage over copper, as such maps can be executed at a +very moderate expense, and printed with the letter-press of the work for +which they are intended. As the names in maps engraved on wood are the +most difficult parts of the subject, the method of drilling holes in the +block and inserting the names in type—as was adopted in the maps +to Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography, Basle, 1550,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIX22" id = "tagIX22" href = "#noteIX22">IX.22</a>—has recently +been revived. The names in the outline maps contained in the Penny +Cyclopædia are inserted in this manner. Had those maps not been engraved +on wood, it would have been impossible that any could have been given in +the work, as the low price at which it is published would +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page613" id = "page613"> +613</a></span> +not have allowed of their being engraved on copper, and, consequently, +printed by means of a rolling-press at an additional expense.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_612" id = "illus_612"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_612.png" width = "345" height = "417" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>When, however, a map is of small dimensions, and several names in +letters of comparatively large size are required to be given, this +method of piercing the block can scarcely be applied without great risk +of its breaking to pieces under the press, in consequence of its being +weakened in parts by the holes drilled through it being so near +together.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX23" id = "tagIX23" href = +"#noteIX23">IX.23</a> This inconvenience, however, may be remedied by +engraving the names in <i>intaglio</i> where they are most numerous, and +afterwards cutting a <i>tint</i> over them, so that when printed they +may appear white on a dark ground. Other names beyond the boundary of +the map can be inserted, where necessary, in type. The preceding +skeleton map of England and Wales, showing the divisions of the counties +and the course of the principal rivers, has been executed in this +manner: all the names on the land, and the courses of the rivers, were +first engraved on the smooth surface of the block in +<i>intaglio</i>—in less than a third of the time which would have +been required to engrave them in relief; the tint was next cut; and +lastly, the block was pierced, and all the other names inserted in type, +with the exception of the word “ENGLAND” in the title, which was +engraved in the same manner as the names on the land.</p> + +<p>As what has been previously said about the practice of the art +relates entirely to engraving where the lines are of the same height, or +in the same plane, and when the impression is supposed to be obtained by +the pressure of a flat surface, I shall now proceed to explain the +practice of lowering, by which operation the surface of the block is +either scraped away from the centre towards the sides, or, as may be +required, hollowed out in other places. The object of thus lowering a +block is, that the lines in such places may be less exposed to pressure +in printing, and thus appear lighter than if they were of the same +height as the others. This method, though it has been claimed as a +modern invention, is of considerable antiquity, having been practised in +1538, as has been previously observed at <a href = +"WoodEngraving7.html#page462">page 462</a>. Instances of lowering are +very frequent in cuts engraved by Bewick; but until within the last five +or six years the practice was not resorted to by south-country +engravers. It is absolutely necessary that wood-cuts intended to be +printed by a steam-press should be lowered in such parts as are to +appear light; for, as the pressure on the cut proceeds from the even +surface of a metal cylinder covered with a blanket, there is no means of +<i>helping</i> a cut, as is generally done when printed by a hand-press, +by means of <i>overlays</i>. Overlaying consists in pasting pieces of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page614" id = "page614"> +614</a></span> +paper either on the front or at the back of the outer tympan, +immediately over such parts of the block as require to be printed dark; +and the effect of this is to increase the action of the platten on those +parts, and to diminish it on such as are not overlaid. When lowered +blocks are printed at a common press, it is necessary that a blanket +should be used in the tympans, in order that the paper may be pressed +into the hollowed or lowered parts, and the lines thus <i>brought +up</i>. The application of the steam-press to printing lowered wood-cuts +may be considered as an epoch in the history of wood engraving. +Wood-cuts were first printed <i>by a steam-press</i> at Messrs. Clowes +and Sons’ establishment,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX24" id = "tagIX24" +href = "#noteIX24">IX.24</a> and since that time <i>lowering</i> has +been more generally practised than at any former period.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_614" id = "illus_614"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_614.png" width = "330" height = "397" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page615" id = "page615"> +615</a></span> +<p>By means of simply lowering the edges of a block, so that the surface +shall be convex instead of plane, the lines are made to diminish in +strength as they recede from the centre until they become gradually +blended with the white paper on which the cut is printed. This is the +most simple mode of lowering, and is now frequently adopted in such cuts +as are termed <i>vignettes</i>,—that is, such as are not bounded +by definite lines surrounding them in the manner of a border. In the +preceding cut, representing a group from Sir David Wilkie’s painting of +the Village Festival, in the National Gallery, the light appearance of +the lines towards the edges has been produced in this manner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landseer, in his Lectures on Engraving, observes that hard edges +are incident to wood-cut vignettes. He was not aware of the means by +which this objectionable appearance could be remedied. The following are +his observations on this subject: “A principal beauty in most +vignettes consists in the delicacy with which they appear to relieve +from the white paper on which they are printed. The objects of which +vignettes consist, themselves forming the boundary of the composition, +their extremities should for the most part be tenderly blended—be +almost melted, as it were, into the paper, or ground. Now, in printing +with the letter-press, the pressure is rather the strongest at the +extremities of the engraving, where we wish it to be weakest, and it is +so from the unavoidable swelling of the damp paper on which the +impressions are worked, and the softness of the blankets in the tympans +of the press. Hence, hard, instead of soft edges, are incident to +vignettes engraven on wood, which all the care of the printer, with all +the modern accuracy of his machine, can rarely avoid.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Landseer’s objection to vignettes engraved on wood applies only +to such as are engraved on a plane surface, since by lowering the block +towards the edges, lines gradually blending with the white paper can be +obtained with the greatest facility. For the representation of such +subjects,—supposing that their principal beauty consists in “the +delicacy with which they appear to relieve from the white +paper,”—wood engraving is as well adapted as engraving on copper +or steel. Though it is certainly desirable that the lines in a vignette +should gradually become blended with the colour of the paper, yet +something more is required in an engraving of this kind, whether on wood +or on metal. Much depends on its form harmonizing with the composition +of the subject: a beautiful drawing reduced to an irregular shape, +and having the edges merely softened, will not always constitute a good +vignette. Of this we have but too many instances in modern copper-plate +engravings, as well as wood-cuts. Of all modern artists J. M. +W. Turner, R.A., and W. Harvey appear to excel in giving to +their vignettes a form suitable to the composition.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page616" id = "page616"> +616</a></span> +<p>Perhaps it may not be out of place to say a few words here on the +original meaning of the word <i>vignette</i>, which is now generally +used to signify either a wood-cut or a copper-plate engraving which is +not inclosed by definite lines forming a border. The word is French, and +is synonymous with the Latin <i>viticula</i>, which means a little vine, +or a vine shoot, such as is here represented.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_616" id = "illus_616"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_616a.png" width = "335" height = "138" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<div class = "capital"> +<p class = "capital"> </p> +<p class = "first"><span class = "firstword"><span class = +"hidden">C</span>apital</span> letters in ancient manuscripts were +called by old writers <i>viticulæ</i>, or <i>vignettes</i>, in +consequence of their being frequently ornamented with flourishes in the +manner of vine branches or shoots. The letter C, forming the +commencement of this paragraph, is an example of an old vignette; it is +copied from a manuscript apparently of the thirteenth century, formerly +belonging to the monastery of Durham, but now in the British Museum. +Subsequently the word was used to signify any large ornament at the top +of a page; in the seventeenth century all kinds of printer’s ornaments, +such as flowers, head and tail-pieces, were generally termed vignettes; +and more recently the word has been used to express all kinds of +wood-cuts or copper-plate engravings which, like the group from the +Village Festival, are not inclosed within a definite border. Rabelais +uses the word to denote certain ornaments of goldsmith’s work on the +scabbard of a sword; and our countryman Lydgate thus employs it in his +Troy +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page618" id = "page618"> +618</a></span> +Book to denote the sculptured foliage and tracery at the sides of a +window:</p> + +<div class = "capbottom"> +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "open">“And if I should rehearsen by and by</p> +<p>The corve knots, by craft and masonry,</p> +<p>The fresh embowing with virges right as lines,</p> +<p>And the housing full of backewines,</p> +<p>The rich coining, the lusty battlements,</p> +<p><i>Vinettes</i> running in casements.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p><a href = "#page_image">Page image</a> showing original layout.</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page617" id = "page617"> +[617]</a></span> +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_617" id = "illus_617"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_617.png" width = "490" height = "750" +alt = "decorative capitals: O Q H I E F F D G V B"></p> + +<p>The additional specimens of ornamental capitals on the preceding page +are chiefly taken from Shaw’s Alphabets, in which will be found a great +variety of capitals of all ages.</p> + +<p>Before introducing any examples of concave lowering in the middle of +a cut, it seems necessary to give first a familiar illustration of the +principle, in order that what is subsequently said upon this subject may +be the more readily understood.—The crown-piece of George IV., +which every reader can refer to, will afford the necessary +illustrations. As the head of the King on the obverse, and the figures +of St. George, the horse, and the dragon, on the reverse, are in +<i>relief</i>,—that is, higher than the field,—it is +evident, that if the coin were printed, each side separately, by means +of pressure from an even surface, whether plane or cylindrical, covered +with a yielding material, such as a blanket or woollen cloth, so as to +press the paper against the field or lower parts, the impressions would +appear as follows,—that is, with the parts in relief darkest, and +the lower proportionably lighter from their being less exposed to +pressure.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_618" id = "illus_618"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_618.png" width = "360" height = "147" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +IMPRESSIONS FROM A SURFACE WITH THE FIGURES IN RELIEF.</p> + +<p>If casts be taken of each side of the same coin, the parts which in +the original are raised, or in <i>relief</i>, will then be concave, or +in <i>intaglio</i>;<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX25" id = "tagIX25" href += "#noteIX25">IX.25</a> and if such casts be printed in the manner of +wood-cuts, the impressions will appear as in the opposite +page,—that is, the field +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page619" id = "page619"> +619</a></span> +being now highest will appear positively black, while the figures now in +<i>intaglio</i>, or <i>lowered</i>, as I should say when speaking of a +wood-cut, will appear lighter in proportion to the concavity of the +different parts.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_619" id = "illus_619"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_619.png" width = "355" height = "140" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +IMPRESSIONS FROM A SURFACE WITH THE FIGURES LOWERED, OR IN INTAGLIO.</p> + +<p>Upon a knowledge of the principle here exemplified the practice of +lowering in wood engraving entirely depends. When a block is properly +lowered, there is no occasion for overlays; and when cuts are to be +printed at a steam-press,—where such means to increase the +pressure in some parts and diminish it in others cannot be employed +without great loss of time,—it becomes absolutely necessary that +the blocks should be lowered in the parts where it is intended that the +lines should appear light.</p> + +<p>In order that a cut should be printed properly without overlays, +either at a common press with a blanket in the tympans, or at a +steam-press where the cylinder is covered with woollen cloth, it is +necessary that the parts intended to appear light should be lowered +before the lines seen upon them are engraved; and the mode of proceeding +in this case is as follows:—The designer being aware of the manner +in which the cut is to be printed, and understanding the practice of +lowering, first makes the drawing on the block in little more than +outline,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX26" id = "tagIX26" href = +"#noteIX26">IX.26</a> and washes in with flake-white the parts which it +is necessary to lower. The block is then sent to the engraver, who, with +an instrument resembling a sharp-edged burnisher, or with a flat tool or +chisel, scrapes or pares away the wood in the parts indicated. When the +lowering is completed, the designer finishes the drawing, and the cut is +engraved. It is necessary to observe, that unless the person who makes +the drawing on the block perfectly understand the principle of lowering, +and the purposes for which it is intended, he will never be able to +design properly a subject intended to be printed by a steam-press.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page620" id = "page620"> +620</a></span> +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_620" id = "illus_620"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_620.png" width = "329" height = "276" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>When an object is to be represented dark upon a light ground, or upon +middle tint, the first operation in beginning to lower the block is to +cut a delicate white outline round the dark object, and proceed with a +flat tool or a scraper, as may be most convenient, to take a thin +shaving or paring off those parts on which the background or middle tint +is to be engraved. The extent to which the block must be lowered will +depend on the degree of lightness intended to be given to such parts. In +Bewick’s time, when the pressmen used leather balls to ink the cuts and +types, it was only necessary to take a very thin shaving off the block +in order to produce the desired effect; as such balls, from the want of +elasticity in the leather, which was comparatively hard and unyielding, +would only touch lightly such parts as were below the level of the other +lines and the face of the types: had the block been lowered to any +considerable depth, such parts would not have received any ink, and +consequently would not have shown the lines engraved on them in the +impression. In the present day, when composition rollers are used, it is +necessary to lower the parts intended to appear light to a much greater +depth than formerly;<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX27" id = "tagIX27" +href = "#noteIX27">IX.27</a> as such rollers, in consequence of their +greater elasticity, are pressed, in the process of inking, to a +considerably greater depth between the lines of a cut than the old +leather balls. The preceding cut—a Shepherd’s Dog, drawn by +W. Harvey,—is printed from +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page621" id = "page621"> +621</a></span> +a block in which both the fore-ground and distance are lowered to give +greater effect to the animal. If such a cut, printed in the same page +with types, as it appears here, were inked with leather balls, +a considerable portion of the lowered parts would not be visible. +This cut illustrates the principle of printing from a surface—such +as that of a coin—in which the head or figure is in relief.</p> + +<p>In the next cut, an Egret, from a drawing by W. Harvey, the figure of +the bird appears white on a dark ground,—the reverse of the cut of +the Shepherd’s Dog,—and is an example of lowering the block in the +middle in the manner of a die with the figures in intaglio, or a cast +from a coin in which the head or figures are in relief.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_621" id = "illus_621"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_621.png" width = "311" height = "273" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>In a cut of this kind the general form of the principal object +required to be light is first lowered out, and the drawing of the figure +being next completed upon the hollowed part, the engraver proceeds to +cut the lines, beginning with the back-ground and finishing the +principal object last. In cutting the lines in the hollowed part, the +engraver uses such a tool, slightly curving upwards towards the point, +as has been previously described at page 579. In lowering the principal +object in a cut of this kind, the greatest attention is necessary in +order that the hollowed parts may be gradually concave, and also of a +sufficient depth. In performing this operation, the engraver is solely +guided by his own judgment; and unless he have some practical knowledge +of the extent to which composition balls and rollers will +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page622" id = "page622"> +622</a></span> +penetrate in such hollowed parts, it is almost impossible that he should +execute his work in a proper manner;—should he succeed, it will +only be by chance, like a person shooting at a mark blindfolded. In such +cases, though no special rules can be given, it is necessary to observe +that the part lowered will, in proportion to its area, be exposed to +receive nearly the same quantity of ink, and the same degree of +pressure, as the lines on a level with the types. The <i>depth</i> to +which such parts require to be lowered will consequently depend on their +extent; and the degree of lightness intended to be given to the lines +engraved on them. This, however, will be best illustrated by the annexed +diagram. If, for instance, the part to be lowered extend from <span +class = "smallroman">A</span> to <span class = "smallroman">B</span>, it +will be necessary to hollow the block to the depth indicated by the +dotted line <span class = "smallroman">A</span> c <span class += "smallroman">B</span>. Should it extend from <span class = +"smallroman">A</span> to <span class = "smallroman">D</span>, it will +require to be lowered to the depth of the dotted line <span class = +"smallroman">A</span> e <span class = "smallroman">D</span> in +order to obtain the same degree of lightness in colour as in the lowered +part <span class = "smallroman">A</span> c <span class = +"smallroman">B</span> of less area,—that is, supposing the +engraved lines in both cases to be of equal delicacy.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_622" id = "illus_622"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_622a.png" width = "179" height = "16" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>As overlaying such delicately engraved cuts as require the greatest +attention in printing occupies much time, and lays the press idle during +the process, the additional sum charged per sheet for works containing a +number of such cuts has frequently operated to the disadvantage of wood +engraving, by causing its productions to be dispensed with in many books +where they might have been introduced with great advantage, both as +direct and incidental illustrations. It is, therefore, of great +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page623" id = "page623"> +623</a></span> +importance to adapt the art of wood engraving to the execution of cuts +of all kinds, whether comparatively coarse or of the greatest delicacy, +so that they may be properly printed at the least possible expense.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/illus_622b.png" width = "327" height = "222" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The preceding cut, with the two following, which have all been +lowered, would, if printed at a steam-press, appear nearly as well as +they do in the present work, where they have been printed by means of a +common press with a blanket. But such a subject—a winter-piece, +with an ass and her foal standing near an old outhouse,—cannot be +properly represented without lowering the block; for no overlaying would +cause the lines indicating the thatch on the houses and the stacks, as +seen through the snow, to appear so soft as they now do.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_623" id = "illus_623"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_623.png" width = "300" height = "236" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>In this cut of a Salmon Trout, with a view of Bywell Lock, on the +river Tyne, both the fore-ground and the distance are lowered; the +objects which appear comparatively dark in those parts are the least +reduced, while those that appear lightest are such as are lowered to the +greatest extent. The back of the fish, which appears dark in the +impression, is in the block like a ridge, which is gradually lowered in +a hollow curve towards the lower line. In such a cut as this, particular +care ought to be taken not to lower too much those parts which come into +immediate contact with a strong black outline, such as the back of the +Salmon; for where the lowering in such parts is too abrupt, there is +great risk of the lines engraved on them not being <i>brought up</i>, +and thus causing the figure in relief to appear surrounded with a white +line, as in the impressions from the crown-piece at page 618.</p> + +<p>By means of lowering, the black pony, on which a boy is seen riding, +in the following cut, is much more effectively represented, than if the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page624" id = "page624"> +624</a></span> +whole subject were engraved on a plane surface. The grey horse, and the +light jacket of the rider, the ground, the garden wall, and the lightest +of the trees, are all lowered in order to give greater effect to the +pony.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_624a" id = "illus_624a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_624a.png" width = "308" height = "182" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>A cut which is properly lowered may not only be printed by a +steam-press without overlays, but will also afford a much greater number +of good impressions than one of the same kind engraved on a plane +surface; for the more delicate parts, being lower than those adjacent to +them, are thus saved from too much pressure, without the necessity of +increasing it in other places. The preceding cut will serve to show +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page625" id = "page625"> +625</a></span> +the advantages of lowering in this respect. It was originally engraved, +from a drawing by William Harvey, for the Treatise on Cattle, published +under the direction of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful +Knowledge. Though twelve thousand impressions have already been printed +from it by means of Messrs. Clowes and Sons’ steam-press, it has not +sustained the slightest injury in any part; and the present impression +is scarcely inferior to the first proof. With the exception of clearing +out the ink in two or three places, it has required no preparation or +retouching to give it its present appearance. Had such a work as the +Treatise on Cattle been printed at a common press without the blocks +having been lowered, the cost of printing would have been at least +double the sum charged by Messrs. Clowes; and the engraving, after so +great a number of impressions had been taken, would have been +considerably injured, if not quite spoiled.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_624b" id = "illus_624b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_624b.png" width = "357" height = "312" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>In complicated subjects, consisting of many figures, and in which the +light and shade are much diversified, it becomes necessary to combine +the two principles of lowering, which have been separately illustrated +by the Dog and the Egret, and to adapt them according to circumstances, +forming some parts convex, and making others concave, respectively, as +the objects engraved on them are to appear dark or light. In order to +illustrate this process of combined lowering, I have chosen a +subject from Rembrandt—the Descent from the Cross—in which +several figures are introduced, and in which the lights and shades are +so much varied—in some parts blended by a delicate middle tint, +and in others strongly contrasted—as to afford the greatest +possible scope for the illustration of what is termed <i>lowering</i> in +a wood engraving.</p> + +<p>The cut on the next page shows the appearance of an impression taken +from the block before a single line had been engraved, except the +<i>white</i> outline bounding the figures. All that is here seen has +been effected by the flat tool and the scraper; the lightest parts are +those that are most concave, the darkest those that are most convex. The +parts which have the appearance of a middle tint are such as are reduced +to a medium between the strongest light and the darkest shade. The +impression in its present state has very much the appearance of an +unfinished mezzotint.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_626" id = "illus_626"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_626.png" width = "328" height = "437" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>In order to render this example of complicated lowering more +intelligible to those who have little knowledge of the subject, it seems +necessary to give a detailed account of the process, even at the risk of +repeating some previous explanations. In complicated as well as in +simple subjects intended to be lowered, the design is first drawn in +outline on the wood. In such a subject as that which is here given, the +Descent from the Cross, it is necessary to cut a delicate <i>white</i> +outline—such as is seen in the ladder—round all those parts +where the true +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page626" id = "page626"> +626</a></span> +outline appears dark against light, previous to lowering out those light +parts which come into immediate contact with such as are dark. When a +white outline has been cut where required, a thin shaving is to be +taken off those parts which are intended to be a shade lighter than the +middle tints,—for instance, in the rays of light falling upon the +cross, and in the lower part of the sky. After this, the light parts of +the ground and the figures are to be lowered; but, instead of taking a +mere shaving off the latter, the depth to which they are to be hollowed +out will depend on the form and size of the parts, and the strength of +the light intended to appear on them; and where a series of delicate +lines are to run into <i>pure white</i>, great care must be taken that +the wood be sufficiently <i>bevelled</i> or rounded off to allow of +their blending with the white, without their extremities forming a +distinct line, more especially where rotundity is to be represented. In +a block thus lowered, the parts intended to be lightest will be the most +concave, and those intended to be darkest the most in relief; and, when +printed, the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page627" id = "page627"> +627</a></span> +impression will appear as in the following cut, in consequence of the +lowered parts, in proportion to their depth, receiving both less ink and +less pressure; while those that are to appear positively white are +lowered to such an extent as to be neither touched by the ink, nor +exposed to the action of the platten or cylinder.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_627" id = "illus_627"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_627.png" width = "333" height = "439" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>When the block has been thus prepared, the subject is drawn upon it +in detail, and the engraving of the lines proceeded with. The sky, and +the lighter and more distant objects, should be engraved first: and care +ought to be taken not to get the lines too fine at the commencement, +for, should this happen, there is no remedy for the defect. By keeping +them comparatively strong, the darker objects can be executed in a +corresponding degree of boldness; and should the proof be generally too +dark, the necessary alterations can be easily made. The above cut of the +Descent from the Cross is printed from the finished block; all the +positive lines here seen having been engraved subsequent to the process +of lowering.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page628" id = "page628"> +628</a></span> +<p>It is necessary to observe that the process of engraving upon an +uneven surface—such as that of the lowered block of the Descent +from the Cross—is much more difficult than on a surface which is +perfectly plane; for the graver in traversing such parts as are lowered +is apt to lose its hold, and to slip in descending, while in ascending +it is liable to take too much hold, and to <i>tear</i> rather than to +clearly cut out the wood in certain parts, thus rendering the raised +lines rough at the sides, and sometimes breaking them quite through. In +order to remedy in some degree such inconveniences, it is necessary to +use a graver slightly curving upwards towards the point.</p> + +<p>The process of lowering, as previously explained, is peculiarly +adapted to give the appearance of proper texture to objects of Natural +History, and in particular to birds, where it is often so desirable to +impart a soft downy appearance to the plumage. Such softness can never +be well represented by lines engraved on a perfectly level surface; for, +however thin and fine they may be, they will always appear too distinct, +and want that softness which can only be obtained by lowering the block, +and printing it with a blanket in the tympans at a common press. Those +who in engraving birds on a plane surface are fond of imitating the +delicacy of copper-plate or steel engravings, always fail in their +attempts to represent that soft appearance so peculiar to the plumage of +birds, whatever may be its colour. Bewick’s Birds, in this respect, have +never been equalled; and the softness displayed in the plumage has been +chiefly obtained by lowering, and thus preventing such parts receiving +too much ink or too much pressure. The characteristic expression of the +bird, and the variety of texture in the plumage, are not indeed entirely +dependent on this process; but the appearance of softness, and the +general effect of the cut as a whole,—as exemplified in the Birds +of Bewick,—are not otherwise to be obtained. Any wood engraver who +doubts this, should attempt to copy, on an unlowered block, one of the +best of Bewick’s birds; on comparing a printed impression of his work +with the original, he will be likely to discover that he has thought too +highly of his own practice, and too lightly of Bewick’s.</p> + +<p>Though chiaro-scuro drawings can be faithfully copied by means of +wood engraving; yet the art, as applied to the execution of such works, +has met with but little encouragement in this country, and has +consequently been little practised. From 1754—the date of +J. B. Jackson’s tract on the Invention of Engraving and Printing in +Chiaro-scuro—to 1819, when the first part of Mr. Savage’s Hints on +Decorative Printing was published, the only chiaro-scuro wood engravings +which appear to have been published in England were those executed about +1783, by an amateur of the name of John Skippe. The chiaro-scuros +engraved by +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page629" id = "page629"> +629</a></span> +Mr. Skippe do not appear to have been numerous; I have only seen +three—St. John the Evangelist, St. Paul, and Hebe, all after +drawings by Parmegiano. The latter is printed from four blocks, and each +of the others from three. In point of execution, that of St. John is +decidedly the best: it is much superior to any of the specimens given in +J. B. Jackson’s work, and will bear a comparison with some of the +best chiaro-scuros of Nicholas Le Sueur.</p> + +<p>Savage’s Hints on Decorative Printing, in two parts, 1819-1823, +contains several specimens, not only of chiaro-scuro wood engravings, +but also of subjects printed in positive colours from several +wood-blocks, in imitation of coloured drawings. Some of the +chiaro-scuros, properly so called, are well executed, though they +generally seem too soft and <i>woolly</i>. The following are those which +seem most worthy of notice:—A female Bacchante, from a bas-relief +in the British Museum; Theseus, from the statue in the Elgin Collection +of Marbles, in the British Museum; Copy of a bust in marble in the +British Museum; Bridge and Landscape; Passage-boats; and a River Scene. +For the representation of such subjects as the preceding, when drawn in +sepia, wood engraving is peculiarly adapted.</p> + +<p>The simplest manner of representing a chiaro-scuro drawing is by +printing a tint, with the lights cut out, from a second block, over the +impression of a cut engraved in the usual manner. Chiaro-scuros of this +kind have the appearance of pen-and-ink drawings made on tinted paper, +and heightened with touches of white. The illustrations to an edition of +Puckle’s Club were thus printed in 1820,—the year after they had +appeared printed in the usual manner in a new edition of the +work—but many of them are spoiled by the badly-chosen “fancy” +colour of the tint.</p> + +<p>From the time of the publication of the second part of Savage’s +Hints, and the tinted illustrations of Puckle’s Club, no further +attempts appear to have been made to improve or extend the practice of +chiaro-scuro engraving and printing in colours till Mr. George Baxter +turned his attention to the subject. His first attempts in chiaro-scuro +engraving are to be found in a History of Sussex, printed by his father +at Lewes, in 1835. Mr. Baxter tried various experiments, and at length +succeeded so much to his satisfaction, that he took out a patent for +printing in oil-colours. The manner in which he executes picture-prints +in positive colours, after drawings or paintings in oil, is +<i>nearly</i> the same as that in which Kirkall executed his +chiaro-scuros. The ground, the outlines, and the more minute details, +are first printed in neutral tint from a plate engraved in aquatint; and +over this impression the proper colours are printed from as many +wood-blocks as there are different tints. The best specimens of Mr. +Baxter’s printing in oil-colours, from wood-blocks over +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page630" id = "page630"> +630</a></span> +an aquatint ground, are to be found in the Pictorial Album, published by +Chapman and Hall, 1837; and among these the following appear to be most +deserving of distinct enumeration:—Interior of the Lady Chapel, +Warwick; Lugano; Verona; and Jeannie Deans’s Interview with the Queen. +In some of the most elaborate subjects in this work, the colours have +been communicated by not less than twenty blocks, each separately +printed. So far as regards the landscapes, nothing of the same kind +previously done will bear to be compared with them. But since this +period, Mr. Baxter has brought his peculiar art to still greater +perfection, and both large and small examples are to be met with +abundantly. One of the most popular is his “Holy Trinity, after +Raphael,” a small plate of which no fewer than 700,000 copies have +been sold. The subscribers to Bohn’s Scientific Library will find a good +specimen in the View of Chimborazo, prefixed to Humboldt’s Views of +Nature.</p> + +<p>Another recent invention is that of “Knight’s Patent Illuminated +Prints and Maps.” In every instance hitherto of surface-printing in +colours, each colour, having a separate block, had to be worked off +separately, which rendered such productions extremely expensive.<a class += "tag" name = "tagIX28" id = "tagIX28" href = "#noteIX28">IX.28</a> The +new process has one great advantage over all its predecessors, in +cheapness, and the facility with which it can multiply impressions. The +general nature of the process will be best understood from a description +of the mode of completing a coloured print.</p> + +<p>In the first place, a subject is engraved upon wood in the usual +manner, and the impression is coloured by a skilful artist. We will +suppose four principal colours are introduced, red, blue, yellow, and +brown. Separate and exact drawings of each colour are then made; and +four polished plates are prepared, each plate carrying one colour. These +four plates are then firmly fixed in an ingeniously contrived frame, or +table, moving upon the table of a common press, the motion being +regulated by machinery, which ensures the most exact register, after it +has once been obtained, and affords the greatest facility in obtaining +it. The colours are then applied to their respective plates in precisely +the same manner as ink to type, by means of rollers; and four sheets of +paper of the size intended for the print (or, for convenience, one +large sheet to be afterwards cut up) are then placed on the +frisket, which +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page631" id = "page631"> +631</a></span> +is then turned down on the plates, and the pull applied. The table is +then turned one quarter round, and the process is repeated, till each +colour has, in succession, been printed upon the four sheets. Six or +seven colours are sometimes produced by the same process, and from the +same plates, by combination; and the union of two colours to produce a +third is effected perfectly, in consequence of the rapidity of the +process, which does not allow the colours to dry and become hard. The +bright whites are, of course, formed by removing the surface in the +requisite parts from all the plates, and suffering the ground to appear. +Eight, or indeed any number of colours, can be introduced by using +another press, or presses; in which case the frisket with the sheet or +sheets fixed, is passed from one press to the other. The block of the +drawing is always the last impressed.</p> + +<p>From its extreme exactitude this invention seems peculiarly adapted +for designs of patterns for shawls, ribbons, printed cottons, carpets, +and such manufactures as have hitherto apparently been left to the fancy +of the workman, or his employers, who in matters of art have frequently +quite as little taste as the workman.</p> + +<p>But probably the most favourable field for the display of the +perfections of this invention, would be in subjects where only light and +shade, or at most what are called neutral tints, are required, such as +architectural drawings and sculptures, either statues or in relief. For +such purposes the depth of tone obtainable, and the sharpness of the +lights, seem peculiarly adapted.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX29" id = +"tagIX29" href = "#noteIX29">IX.29</a></p> + +<p>What is termed metallic relief engraving consists in executing +subjects on plates of copper, or any other metal, in such a manner that +the lines which form the impression shall be in relief, and thus allow +of such plates being inked and printed in the same manner as a wood-cut. +Since the revival of wood engraving in this country several attempts +have been made to <i>etch</i> in metallic relief, and thus save the time +necessarily required to cut out all the lines in a wood engraving. In +etching upon copper, in order that the subject may be represented by +lines <i>in relief</i>,—the reverse of the usual procedure in +copper-plate engraving,—and that the plate may be printed in the +same manner as a wood-cut, there are several methods of proceeding. In +one, the subject is <i>drawn</i> upon the plate in Burgundy pitch, or +any other substance which will resist the action of aquafortis, in the +same manner +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page632" id = "page632"> +632</a></span> +as copper-plate engravers in the ordinary process <i>stop out</i> the +parts intended to be white. When the substance in which the drawing is +made becomes <i>set</i>, or sufficiently hard, the plate is surrounded +with a <i>wall</i>, as it is technically termed, and aquafortis being +poured upon it, all the unprotected parts are corroded, and the drawing +left in relief.</p> + +<p>This was the method generally adopted by William Blake, an artist of +great but eccentric genius, in the execution of his Songs of Innocence, +the Book of Thel,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX30" id = "tagIX30" href = +"#noteIX30">IX.30</a> the Gates of Paradise, Urizen, and other works, +published between 1789 and 1800. The following account of the origin of +this new mode of engraving or etching in metallic relief, by corroding +the parts intended to appear white in the impression, is extracted from +the Life of William Blake, in Allan Cunningham’s Lives of British +Painters, Sculptors, and Architects:—</p> + +<p>“He had made the sixty-five designs of his Songs of Innocence, and +was meditating, he said, on the best means of multiplying their +resemblance in form and in hue; he felt sorely perplexed. At last he was +made aware that the spirit of his favourite brother Robert was in the +room, and to this celestial visitor he applied for counsel. The spirit +advised him at once: ‘Write,’ he said, ‘the poetry, and draw the designs +upon the copper, with a certain liquid, (which he named, and which Blake +ever kept a secret,) then cut the plain parts of the plate down with +aquafortis, and this will give the whole, both poetry and figures, in +the manner of stereotype.’ The plan recommended by this gracious spirit +was adopted, the plates were engraved, and the work printed off. The +artist then added a peculiar beauty of his own: he tinted both the +figures and the verse with a variety of colours, amongst which, while +yellow prevails, the whole has a rich and lustrous beauty, to which I +know little that can be compared. The size of these prints is four and a +half inches high by three inches wide. The original genius of Blake was +always confined, through poverty, to small dimensions. Sixty-five plates +of copper were an object to him who had little money.”</p> + +<p>Blake subsequently executed, in the same manner, “the Gates of +Paradise,” consisting of sixteen small designs; and “Urizen,” consisting +of twenty-seven designs. The size of the latter is four inches by six, +and they are dated Lambeth, 1794. In 1800 he also engraved by a similar +process, combined with the usual mode of etching <i>through</i> a +prepared ground laid over the plate, two subjects to illustrate a song +of his own writing, which was printed with them also from metallic +relief. The title of this song is “Little Tom the Sailor,” and the date +is October 5, 1800. It appears to have been a charitable contribution +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page633" id = "page633"> +633</a></span> +of Blake’s to the “Widow Spicer of Folkstone,” the mother of little Tom; +and we learn from the imprint at the bottom that it was printed for, and +sold by her for the benefit of her orphans.</p> + +<p>Blake’s metallic relief engravings were printed by himself by means +of a rolling or copper-plate press, though the impression was obtained +from the lines in relief in the same manner as from a wood-cut. The only +difference in the printing consisted in the different manner in which +the pressure was applied. As it is difficult, according to Blake’s +process, to corrode the large white parts to a depth sufficient to +prevent their being touched by the dauber or ball in the process of +inking, and thus presenting a soiled appearance in the impression, he +was accustomed to wipe the ink out where it had touched in the hollows. +As this occupied more time than the mere inking of the plate, his +progress in printing was necessarily slow.</p> + +<p>In another mode of engraving in relief on a plate of copper, the +plate is first covered with an etching ground in the usual manner, and +to this ground an outline of the subject is transferred by passing the +plate with a pencil-drawing above it through a rolling-press. The +engraver then proceeds to remove with his etching-point, or some other +tool, as may be necessary, all such parts as are intended to be +<i>white</i>. When this process, which may be termed <i>reverse +etching</i>, is completed, the parts intended to be white are corroded +by pouring aquafortis upon the plate in the usual manner, while the +lines which represent the object remain in relief, in consequence of +their being protected at the surface by the coating of etching +ground.</p> + +<p>Several persons have made experiments in this mode of metallic relief +engraving. It was tried by Bewick, and also by the late Robert Branston; +but they did not succeed to their satisfaction, and none of their +productions executed in this manner was ever submitted to the public. +About twenty years ago, Mr. W. Lizars of Edinburgh appears to have +turned his attention to the subject of metallic relief engraving, and to +have succeeded better than either Bewick or Branston. One of the +earliest-published specimens of his engraving in this style is the +portrait of Dr. Peter Morris, forming the frontispiece to Peter’s +Letters to his Kinsfolk, printed at Edinburgh in 1819. This portrait has +every appearance of being executed by the process of reverse +etching,—that is, by first covering the plate with etching ground, +and then removing the parts that are to be white, and leaving the lines +that are to appear black in relief. The plate was printed by a common +printing-press at the office of Ballantyne and Co. In the preface the +“new invention” of Mr. Lizars is thus mentioned:—“The portrait of +Dr. Morris is done in this new style; and, had the time permitted, the +others would have all been done so likewise. It is thrown off by the +common printing-press, as the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page634" id = "page634"> +634</a></span> +reader will observe—but this is only one of the distinguishing +excellences of this new and splendid invention of Mr. Lizars.”</p> + +<p>Within the last three or four years several plans for executing +engravings in metallic relief have been devised; and it has been +prophesied of each, that it would in a short time totally supersede wood +engraving. The projectors of those plans, however, seem to have taken +too narrow a view of the subject; and to have thought that the mere +novelty of their invention was sufficient to ensure it success. They +appear not to have considered, that it was necessary that their metallic +relief casts should not only be cheaper than wood-cuts, but that they +should be also as well executed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Woone has taken out a patent for his invention, and the principle +upon which it is founded is that of taking a cast from a copper-plate, +whereby the lines engraved in <i>intaglio</i> are in the cast in +<i>relief</i>. His process of metallic relief engraving is as +follows:—A smooth plate of metal is covered with a coating of +plaster of Paris, about equal in thickness to the depth to which the +lines are cut in engraving on copper or steel. Upon this surface of +plaster the engraver, with a fine point, as in etching, cuts the lines +of the subject <i>through</i> to the plate below. When this plaster +etching is completed, a cast is taken from it in type-metal; and, +after being <i>cleared out</i>, the subject in metallic relief can be +printed at a common press in the manner of a wood-cut. According to this +plan only <i>one</i> cast can be taken of each subject, as the plaster +is destroyed during the process, so that there is nothing left from +which a second mould can be made, as in the case of a wood-cut. The +chief advantage of this invention consists in the lines being of equal +height in the cast, in consequence of their being etched through the +plaster to the level surface of the plate beneath. As the coating of +plaster is, however, extremely thin, it is generally necessary to clear +out with a graver the interstices of the cast in order to prevent their +being touched by the inking roller.</p> + +<p>A Mr. Schonberg has also made several experiments in metallic relief +engraving by means of etching on stone, and afterwards taking a cast +from his work. Though he has been for several years endeavouring to +perfect his invention, he has not up to this time succeeded in producing +anything which it would be fair to criticise.</p> + +<p>Many of the cuts of trees and shrubs in Loudon’s Arboretum et +Fruticetum Britannicum are printed from casts in metallic relief, +executed by Mr. Robert Branston. The mode of procedure, according to Mr. +Branston’s method, is extremely simple; the subject is first etched on +copper, and bit in by aquafortis in the usual manner; and from this +etching a cast is afterwards taken in type-metal. As the plate is not +corroded to an equal depth in every part, it is necessary to rub on a +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page635" id = "page635"> +635</a></span> +stone the faces of the casts thus obtained in order to reduce the raised +lines to the same level. There is also another inconvenience that +attends casts in metallic relief taken from an etched copper-plate; for, +as the aquafortis acts laterally as well as vertically, it is difficult +to corrode the lines to a sufficient depth, without at the same time +getting them too thick. It is hence necessary to clear out many of the +hollow parts of such casts with a graver, in order to prevent their +being touched by the balls or inking-roller, and thus giving to the +impression a soiled appearance.</p> + +<p>Casts in metallic relief from etchings always appear coarse; and, +from the experiments hitherto made, it seems impossible to execute +<i>fine</i> work in this manner. So far as relates to cheapness, such +casts, however well they may be executed, being of a level surface, +cannot be printed properly by a steam-press in the manner of lowered +blocks, or casts from lowered blocks. For a work of extensive +circulation, printed by means of a steam-press, a lowered block, or +a cast from it, would be cheaper at five pounds, than a cast from an +etching at four, even admitting that both were equally well +executed.</p> + +<p>The principal feature in Mr. C. Hancock’s patent metallic relief +engraving, which is quite original, is, that subjects resembling +mezzotints can be inserted and printed with the text in the same manner +as wood engravings. A mezzotint plate, if printed in the usual +manner previous to being engraved upon, would appear black. On the other +hand, if submitted to the same kind of printing as a wood-cut, it would +scarcely discolour the paper. Upon this plate Mr. Hancock draws his +subject with a broad steel point or burnisher, which polishes down the +small prominences to a smooth surface in proportion to the pressure used +in drawing. In proportion as the surface becomes smooth, so does it +print dark, and have the appearance of a mezzotint. The reader will +perceive that, according to this plan, Mr. Hancock can take a proof of +his subject at any time, and procure either <i>dark</i> or <i>light</i> +at pleasure, as the subject may appear to require it. The sparkling +light can be touched in with the graver, in the same manner as on wood; +so that such touches appear much sharper than in common mezzotint, where +the lights are got by burnishing. As Mr. Hancock has not as yet brought +anything before the public, it would be unfair to anticipate him, by +introducing anything more in this place than a description of his +process.</p> + +<p>Wood engraving is necessarily confined, by the size of the wood, to +the execution of subjects of comparatively small dimensions; and this +limitation, together with the difficulty of printing even tints in +positive colours, have combined to prevent it from being made +extensively available in the production of works in chiaro-scuro, of +large size, by the ordinary modes of surface-printing. Latterly, +however, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page636" id = "page636"> +636</a></span> +the demand which the progress of education has created for maps, school +prints, elementary examples of fine art, and illustrations <i>on a large +scale</i> for the illustrated newspapers, having called the attention of +artists to the subject, many attempts have been made, and in some cases +with success, to produce relief engravings on metal; and also to combine +that mode of engraving with analogous apparatus for the production of +works in tints or colours, separate, combined, or mixed with line +plates, in such degrees as particular cases might require. Several of +these persons have been already named, and their processes described; it +only therefore remains to state, that Mr. Stephen Sly, in connexion with +other artists, has for some years past been steadily engaged in making a +series of experiments for giving a practical value, by various +inventions, to the discoveries and experience of their predecessors in +the art; and with every prospect of success. Their method of procedure +is: 1. To produce a finished drawing, in simple or crossed lines, +with etching varnish on a plate prepared for the purpose; 2. To +bite away, with a compound acid, the spaces between the varnish lines; +and 3. To deepen and finish the work so produced, by the use of +engraving tools, in the ordinary manner. The great difficulties in the +way of these apparently simple operations have been, 1. To cast +<i>sound</i> and durable plates of a large size, and of a texture +sufficiently compact to produce sharp lines by the etching process, and +at the same time soft enough to permit the surfaces to be lowered, and +the cutting to be executed with facility; 2. To remove the oxide +formed by the combination of the acid with the metal from between the +lines; and 3. To carry the biting to a depth sufficiently great to +permit the plate, with the addition of a small quantity of graver-work, +to yield a clear impression.</p> + +<p>Metallic relief engraving has not unfrequently been practised at +Paris of late years. I have now lying before me an impression from +a plate engraved in this manner by Messrs. Best, Andrew, and Leloir, of +that city. The subject is a wild turkey, and it was engraved about three +years ago for Mr. Audubon. Though it is the best specimen of metallic +relief engraving that has come under my notice, I am yet of opinion +that the subject could be better engraved on wood, and at a less cost. +Ornaments and borders are sometimes engraved on solid brass by means of +chisels and gravers in the same manner as a wood-cut. The head of +Buchanan, and the border on the wrapper of Blackwood’s Magazine, were +engraved on brass in this manner, more than twenty years ago, by Messrs. +<ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Vizitelly’">Vizetelly</ins>, Branston, and Co. They were originally +engraved on wood by Bewick. The greater durability of ornaments engraved +on brass, compensates for their additional cost. The <i>cheapest</i> +mode, however, is to have such ornaments first engraved on wood, and +casts afterwards taken from them in type metal. One great objection to +<i>cutting</i> +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page637" id = "page637"> +637</a></span> +on metal with the graver is, that the metal <i>cuts the paper</i> in +printing from it.</p> + +<p>Duplicates of wood engravings may be readily obtained by means of +casts from the original blocks; and within the last twenty years, the +practice of thus multiplying subjects originally engraved on wood, has +become very prevalent both in this country and in France. Casts can be +obtained from wood engravings by two different processes, and both are +practised by two or three stereotype printers, to whom this business is +usually entrusted. By the one mode, a mould is first made from the +block in plaster of Paris, and from this mould or matrix a cast is +afterwards taken in type metal. By the other mode—termed by the +French <i>clichage</i><a class = "tag" name = "tagIX31" id = "tagIX31" +href = "#noteIX31">IX.31</a>—the mould or matrix is not formed of +plaster; but is obtained by letting the block fall, with its engraved +surface downwards, directly on a mass of metal,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIX32" id = "tagIX32" href = "#noteIX32">IX.32</a> just sufficiently +fluid to receive the impression, and which becomes solid almost at the +very instant it is touched by the block. From this mould or matrix a +cast is afterwards taken in the same manner. In order to prevent the +surface of the block becoming charred by the heat, it is previously +rubbed over with a composition of common yellow soap and red ochre.</p> + +<div class = "picture"> +<div class = "picblock w150"> +<p><a name = "illus_637" id = "illus_637"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_637a.png" width = "139" height = "228" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 1 (from Wood).</p> +</div> + +<div class = "picblock"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_637b.png" width = "137" height = "226" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +No. 2 (from Metal).</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>When it is particularly desirable to preserve the original block +uninjured, the safest mode is that of forming a mould or matrix of +plaster; for by the process of <i>clichage</i> a delicately engraved +block is extremely +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page638" id = "page638"> +638</a></span> +liable to receive damage. As a cast, whether from a matrix of metal or +of plaster, generally requires certain small specks of the metal to be +removed, or some of the lines to be cleared out, this operation is +frequently entrusted to a person employed in a printing-office where +such cast is taken. Such person, however, should never be allowed to do +more than remove the specks; for, should he attempt to re-enter or +re-cut the lines or tints on metal, he will be very likely to spoil the +work. It is extremely difficult, even to a dexterous engraver, to +re-enter the lines that have been partially closed up in a tint, so that +they shall appear the same as the others which have come off clear. +Should the printer’s <i>picker</i> happen to re-enter them in a +direction opposite to that in which they were originally cut on the +block, the work is certain to be spoiled. When a cast requires clearing +out and retouching in this manner, the operation ought to be performed +by a wood engraver, and, if possible, by the person who executed the +original block. When the subject is not very complicated, it is +extremely difficult to distinguish which of two impressions is from a +cast, and which is from the original block. Those who profess to have +great judgment in such matters are left to determine which of the +preceding busts is printed from metal, and which from wood.</p> + +<p>When a duplicate of a modern, or a fac-simile of an old wood-cut is +required, the best mode of obtaining a correct copy, is to transfer the +original, if not too large or too valuable, to a prepared block; and the +mode of effecting this is as follows:—The back of the impression +to be transferred is first well moistened with a mixture composed of +equal parts of concentrated potash and essence of lavender; it is then +placed above a block whose surface has been slightly moistened with +water, and rubbed with a burnisher. If the mixture be of proper +strength, the ink of the old impression will become loosened, and be +transferred to the wood. Recent impression of a wood-cut, before the ink +is set, may be transferred to a block without any preparation, merely by +what is technically termed “rubbing down.” In order to transfer +impressions from copper-plates, it is necessary to use the <i>oil</i> of +lavender instead of the <i>essence</i>: if a very old impression, apply +the preparation to its face.</p> + +<p>Since the former edition of this work considerable improvements have +been made in the mode of taking casts, of which the principal is +<i>electrotyping</i>, by the galvanic precipitation of copper. By this +process all the finer lines of the engraving are so perfectly preserved, +that impressions printed from the cast are quite undistinguishable from +those printed from the original block.</p> + +<p>Before closing this subject we think it right to introduce the notice +of a new art, which, if it accomplishes all it professes, and as, +judging by the annexed example, it seems capable of performing, will be +a great acquisition. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page639" id = "page639"> +639</a></span> +The art was first brought out as Collins’s process, but is now called +the <i>Electro-printing Block process</i>, and is managed under the +inventor’s direction by a company established at No. 27, New Bridge +Street, Blackfriars. The object of the process is to reduce or extend, +by means of transfer to an elastic material, maps or engravings of any +size. The specimen given in the present volume is reduced from a +lithograph copy of an early block print, four times its size,<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIX33" id = "tagIX33" href = "#noteIX33">IX.33</a> and +then electrotyped +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page640" id = "page640"> +640</a></span> +into a surface block, so as to print in the ordinary manner of a +wood-engraving. The reader will easily imagine that any plate +transferred to an elastic surface distended equally, will, when +collapsed, yield a reduced impression, and <i>vice versâ</i>. The only +drawback to this process seems to be the want of depth in the +electro-type where there are large unengraved spaces. Such plates will +want good bringing-up and very careful printing.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_639" id = "illus_639"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_639.png" width = "425" height = "525" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The unequal manner in which wood-cuts are printed, is often injurious +both to publishers and engravers; for, however well a subject may have +been engraved, or whatever may have been the expense incurred, both the +engraver’s talents and the publisher’s money will, in a great measure, +have been thrown away unless the cut be properly printed. The want of +cordial co-operation between printers and wood engravers is one of the +chief causes of wood-cuts being so frequently printed in an improper +manner. One printer’s method of printing wood-cuts often differs so much +from that of another, that it is generally necessary for an engraver who +wishes to have justice done to his work, to ascertain the office at +which a book is to be printed before he begins to execute any of the +cuts. If they are intended to be printed at a steam-press, they require +to be engraved in a manner suitable to that method of printing; and if +it be further intended to take casts from them, and to print from such +casts instead of the original blocks, it is necessary for the engraver +to execute his work accordingly. Should they have to be printed at a +common press <i>with a blanket</i>, it is necessary that they should be +lowered in such parts as are most liable to be printed too heavy from +the parchment of the tympan, when there is a blanket behind it, +penetrating to a greater depth between the lines than when no blanket is +used.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX34" id = "tagIX34" href = +"#noteIX34">IX.34</a> When it is intended to print cuts in what is +called the <i>best</i> manner,—that is, at a common press without +a blanket, and where the effect is brought up by means of +overlaying,—the engraver has nothing to do but to execute his +subject on a plane surface to the best of his ability, and to leave the +task of bringing up the dark, and easing the light parts to the +printer,—who, if he have not an artist’s eye, can only by chance +succeed in producing the effect intended by the draftsman and the +engraver.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_641" id = "illus_641"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_641.png" width = "319" height = "243" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Should a series of wood-cuts be engraved with the view of their being +printed at a steam-press, or at a common press with a blanket, and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page641" id = "page641"> +641</a></span> +should the publisher or proprietor of the work afterwards change his +intention, and decide on having them printed in the <i>best</i> +manner,—that is, by the common press without a blanket, and with +overlays,—such cuts, whatever pains might be taken, could not be +properly and efficiently printed; for those parts which had been lowered +in order to obviate the <i>in</i>-pressure of the blanket, would either +be totally invisible, or would only appear imperfectly,—that is, +with the lines indistinct and broken, as if they had not been properly +inked. The following cut, which was lowered for machine-printing, or +printing with a blanket, but has been worked off at a common press +without a blanket, when compared with the same subject printed in the +manner originally intended,—that is, with a blanket,—will +illustrate what has been previously said on the subject. I by no +means wish it to be understood, that any printer would allow such a cut +to appear quite so bad as it does in the present impression; he would do +<i>something</i> to remedy the defects, but he could not, without +employing a blanket, cause it to have the appearance originally intended +by the designer and engraver. It is printed here without any aid of +overlaying, in order that the difference might be the more apparent to +those who are unacquainted with the subject. I have, however, not +unfrequently seen excellent cuts spoiled from inattention to bringing up +the lowered parts, even when printed at the office of printers who have +acquired a high character for <i>fine</i> work, and whose names on this +account are announced in advertisements in connexion with those of the +author, designer, and publisher, as a +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page642" id = "page642"> +642</a></span> +guarantee for the superior manner in which the cuts contained in the +work will be printed.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX35" id = "tagIX35" +href = "#noteIX35">IX.35</a> The following cut, of the same subject as +that given on the previous page, shows the appearance of the engraving +when properly printed in the manner intended; every line is here brought +up by using a blanket, while from the block having been lowered, with a +view to its being printed in this manner, there has been no occasion for +overlays to increase the effect in the darker parts. The difference in +the two impressions is entirely owing to the different manner of +printing; for the one is printed from the block, and the other from a +cast.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_642" id = "illus_642"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_642.png" width = "325" height = "245" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Subjects engraved on lowered blocks, in the manner of the following +cut, have always an unfinished appearance when printed without a +blanket, and the feebleness and confusion apparent in the lighter parts, +instead of being remedied by overlaying the darker parts, are thus +rendered more obvious. The connecting medium between the extremes of +black and white being either entirely omitted or very imperfectly +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page643" id = "page643"> +643</a></span> +given, causes the impression to have that harsh and unfinished +appearance which is frequently urged as one of the greatest objections +to engraving on wood. It is indeed true, that many cuts have this +objectionable appearance; but it is also true that the fault does not +originate in any deficiency in the art, but is either the result of want +of knowledge on the part of the engraver, or is occasioned by improper +printing. When wood engravers found that anything approaching to +delicacy, in blending the extremes of black and white in their work, was +extremely liable to be either lost or spoiled in the printing, it is not +surprising that they should have paid comparatively little attention to +the connecting tints. In many excellently engraved cuts, printed at the +common press with overlays, the tint next in gradation to positive black +is often perceived to be too dark, in consequence of the extra pressure +on the adjacent parts; while, on the other hand, the delicate lines +intended to blend with the white, are either too heavy, or appear broken +and confused. It is chiefly from this cause, that so much black and +white, without the requisite connecting middle tints, is found in +wood-cuts; for the engraver, finding that such tints were frequently +spoiled in the impression, omitted them whenever he could, in order to +adapt his subject to the usual method of printing. When, in consequence +of an improvement in the mode of printing wood-cuts, engravers can +depend on finding all in the impression that can be executed on the +block, it will no longer be an objection to the art that its productions +have a hard and unfinished appearance, and that it is only capable of +efficiently representing subjects displaying strong contrasts of black +and white.</p> + +<p>Should a wood-cut engraved on a plane surface, with the intention of +its being printed in the <i>best</i> manner,—that is, at a common +press with overlays, and <i>without</i> a blanket,—be printed at a +steam-press, or at a common press <i>with</i> a blanket, it will present +a very different appearance to the engraver’s proof.<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIX36" id = "tagIX36" href = "#noteIX36">IX.36</a> The +following cut, which ought properly to have been printed in the +<i>best</i> manner, is here printed improperly <i>with a blanket</i>, +and the result is anything but satisfactory; the parts which ought to +have been delicately printed are, in consequence of the equality of the +pressure on every part of the unlowered surface brought up too heavy, +and from their appearing too dark, the effect intended by the designer +and engraver is destroyed. The same cut, when printed at a common press +with overlays, and without a blanket, as originally intended, would have +the light parts relieved, and appear as it does on the following +page.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page644" id = "page644"> +644</a></span> +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_644a" id = "illus_644a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_644a.png" width = "335" height = "246" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_644b" id = "illus_644b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_644b.png" width = "336" height = "249" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The want of something like a uniform method of printing wood-cuts, +and the high price charged by printers for what is called fine work, +have operated most injuriously to the progress and extension of wood +engraving. The practice, however, of printing wood-cuts by a +steam-press, or a press of any kind with a cylindrical roller instead of +a platten, seems likely to introduce a general change in the practice of +the art. By the adoption of this cheap and expeditious method of +printing, books containing the very best wood engravings can be afforded +at a much cheaper rate than formerly. As cuts printed in this +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page645" id = "page645"> +645</a></span> +manner can receive no adventitious aid from overlays, the wood engraver +is required to finish his work perfectly before it goes out of his +hands, and not to trust to the taste of a pressman for its being +properly printed. The great desideratum in wood engraving is to produce +cuts which can be efficiently printed at the least possible expense; +and, as a means towards this end, it is necessary that cuts should +require the least possible aid from the printer, and be executed in such +manner that, without gross negligence, they will be certain to print +well. The greatest advantage that wood engraving possesses over +engraving on copper or steel is the cheap rate at which its productions +can be printed at one impression, in the same sheet with the +letter-press. To increase, therefore, by an incomplete method of +engraving, the cost of printing wood-cuts, is to abandon the great +vantage ground of the art.</p> + +<p>The mode of printing by the common press without a blanket, and of +<i>helping</i> a cut engraved on a plane surface by means of overlays, +is not only much more expensive than printing from a lowered block by +the steam-press, or a common press with a blanket and without +overlaying, but is also much more injurious to the engraving. When a cut +requires to be overlaid<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX37" id = "tagIX37" +href = "#noteIX37">IX.37</a> in order that it may be properly printed, +a piece of paper is first pasted on the tympan, and on this an +impression is taken, which remains as a substratum for the subsequent +overlays. A second impression is next taken, and in this the +pressman cuts out the lighter parts, and notes such as are too +indistinct and require <i>bringing up</i>. He then proceeds to paste +scraps of paper over the corresponding parts in the first impression, on +a sheet of thin paper, either in front or at the back of the parchment +tympan, in order to increase in such parts the pressure of the platten; +and thus continues, sometimes for half a day, pasting scrap over scrap, +until he obtains what he considers a perfect impression.</p> + +<p>As the block is originally of the same height as the type, it is +evident that the overlays must very much increase the pressure of the +platten on such parts as they are immediately above. Such increase of +pressure is not only injurious to the engraving, occasionally breaking +down the lines; but it also frequently squeezes the ink from the surface +<i>into</i> the interstices, and causes the impression in such parts to +appear blotted. While a block, with a flat surface, printed in this +manner will scarcely afford five thousand good impressions without +retouching, twenty thousand can be obtained from a lowered block printed +by a steam-press, or by a common press with a blanket and without +overlays; +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page646" id = "page646"> +646</a></span> +the darkest parts in a lowered block being no higher than the type, and +not being overlaid, are subject to no unequal pressure to break down the +lines, while the lighter parts being lowered are thus sufficiently +protected. The intervention of the blanket in the latter case not only +brings up the lighter parts, but is also less injurious to the +engraving, than the direct action of the wood or metal platten, with +only the thin cloth and the parchment of the tympans intervening between +it and the surface of the block.</p> + +<p>When wood-cuts are printed with overlays, and the paper is knotty, +the engraving is certain to be injured by the knots being indented in +the wood in those parts where the pressure is greatest. When copies of a +work containing wood-cuts are printed on India paper, the engraving is +almost invariably injured, in consequence of the hard knots and pieces +of bark with which such paper abounds, causing indentions in the wood. +The consequence of printing off a certain number of copies of a work on +such paper may be seen in the cut of the Vain Glow-worm, in the second +edition of the first series of Northcote’s Fables: it is covered with +white spots, the result of indentions in the block caused by the knots +and inequalities in bad India paper. Overlays frequently shift if not +well attended to, and cause pressure where it was never intended.</p> + +<p>In order that wood engravings should appear to the greatest +advantage, it is necessary that they should be printed on proper paper. +A person not practically acquainted with the subject may easily be +deceived in selecting paper for a work containing wood engravings. There +is a kind of paper, manufactured of coarse material, which, in +consequence of its being pressed, has a smooth appearance, and to the +view seems to be highly suitable for the purpose. As soon, however, as +such paper is wetted previous to printing, its smoothness disappears, +and its imperfections become apparent by the irregular swelling of the +material of which it is composed. Paper intended for printing the best +kind of wood-cuts ought to be even in texture, and this ought to be the +result of good material well manufactured. Paper of this kind will not +appear uneven when wetted, like that which has merely a <i>good face</i> +put upon it by means of extreme pressure. The best mode of testing the +quality of paper is to wet a sheet; however even and smooth it may +appear when dry, its imperfections will be evident when wet, if it be +manufactured of coarse material, and merely pressed smooth.</p> + +<p>Paper of unequal thickness, however good the material may be, is +quite unfit for the purpose of printing the best kind of wood +engravings; for, if a sheet be thicker at one end than the other, there +will be a perceptible difference in the strength of the impressions of +the cuts accordingly as they may be printed on the thick or the thin +parts, those +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page647" id = "page647"> +647</a></span> +on the latter being light, while those on the former are comparatively +heavy or dark. When it is known that an overlay of the thinnest tissue +paper will make a perceptible difference in an impression, the necessity +of having paper of even texture for the purpose of printing wood-cuts +well is obvious. As there is less chance of inequality of texture in +comparatively thin paper than in thick, the former kind is generally to +be preferred, supposing it to be equally well manufactured.</p> + +<p>Mr. Savage, at page 46 of his Hints on Decorative Printing, +recommends that in a sheet which consists entirely of letter-press in +one <i>form</i>,<a class = "tag error" name = "tagIX38" id = "tagIX38" +href = "#noteIX38" title = "footnote tag missing">IX.38</a> and of +letter-press and wood-cuts in the other, the form without cuts should be +worked first. His words are as follow:—“When there are wood-cuts +in one form, and none in the other, then the form without the cuts ought +to be worked first; as working the cuts last prevents the indention of +the types appearing on the engraving, which would otherwise take place +to its prejudice.”</p> + +<p>My opinion on this subject is directly the reverse of Mr. Savage’s, +for, under similar circum­stances, I should advise that the +form containing the cuts should be printed first; and for the following +reason:—When any parts of a wood-cut require to be printed +light—whether by lowering the block or by overlaying—the +pressure in such parts must necessarily be less than on those adjacent. +If then the form containing such cuts be printed first, the paper being +perfectly flat, and without any indentions, all the lines will appear +distinct and continuous, unless the pressman should grossly neglect his +duty. If, on the contrary, the form containing such cuts be printed +last, there is a risk of the lines in the lighter parts appearing broken +and confused, in consequence of the inequality in the surface of the +paper, caused by the indention of the types on the opposite side. +Imperfections of this kind are to be seen in many works containing +wood-cuts; and they are in particular numerous in the Treatise on Cattle +published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge. In many of the cuts in this work the lines +representing the sky appear discontinuous and broken, and the +imperfections are always according to the kind of type on the other side +of the paper. When both forms contain wood-cuts, I should recommend +that to be first which contains the best. Mr. Savage’s reason, +independent of the preceding objections, is scarcely a good one; for +admitting that the indention of the types of the second form does appear +in the <i>clear</i> and <i>distinct</i> impressions from the cuts in the +first, when the sheet is just taken from the press, are not such +inequalities entirely removed when the sheet is <i>dried</i> and +pressed?</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page648" id = "page648"> +648</a></span> +<p>In order to produce good impressions in printing wood-cuts, much more +depends on the manner in which the subject is treated by the designer, +and on the plate which the cut occupies in a page, than a person +unacquainted with the nicety required in such matters would imagine. +Wood-cuts which are delicately engraved, or which consist chiefly of +outline, are the most difficult to print in a proper manner, in +consequence of their want of dark masses to relieve the pressure in the +more delicate parts, and thus cause them to appear lighter in the +impression. There ought never to be a large portion of light delicate +work in a wood-cut without a few dark parts near to it, which may serve +as stays or props to relieve the pressure. In illustration of what is +here said, I would refer to the cut of King Shahriyár unveiling +Shahrazád, at page 15 of Mr. Lane’s Translation of the Arabian Nights’ +Entertainments, where it will be seen, that certain dark parts are +introduced as if at measured distances. It is entirely owing to the +introduction of those dark parts that the pressman has been enabled to +print the cut so well: they not only give by contrast the appearance of +greater delicacy to the lightest parts; but they also serve to relieve +them from that degree of pressure, which, if the cut consisted entirely +of such delicate lines, would most certainly cause them to appear +comparatively thick and heavy. Another instance of the advantage which a +cut derives from its being placed in a certain situation in the page, is +also afforded by the same work. The cut to which I allude is that of the +Return of the Jinnee, at page 47, consisting chiefly of middle tint, +with a pillar of smoke rising up from the ground, and gradually becoming +lighter towards the top. Had this cut been introduced at the head of the +page without any text above it, the light parts would not have appeared +so delicate as they do now when the cut is printed in its present +situation. The top of the cut, where the lines are required to be +lightest, being near to the types, thus receives a support, and is by +them relieved from that degree of pressure which would otherwise cause +the lines to appear heavy. Towards the bottom of the cut, which also +forms the bottom of the page, there are two or three dark figures which +most opportunely afford that necessary degree of support which in the +upper part is derived from the types.</p> + +<p>The engraver by whom a cut has been executed is unquestionably the +best person that the printer can apply to for any information as to the +manner in which it ought to be printed, as he alone can be perfectly +acquainted with the <i>state of the block</i>, and with any peculiarity +in the engraving. If any light part should have been lowered to a very +trifling extent, it is sometimes almost impossible that the printer +should perceive such lowered part after the block has been covered with +ink; and hence, notwithstanding the proof which may have been sent by +the engraver as a guide, such a cut is very likely to be worked off, to +the great injury of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page649" id = "page649"> +649</a></span> +the general effect of the subject, without the lowered part being +properly brought up. In order to avoid such an occurrence, which is by +no means unfrequent, it is advisable to send to the engraver a printed +proof of his cut, in order that he may note those parts where the +pressman has failed in obtaining a perfect impression. From the want of +this precaution wood-cuts are but too often badly printed; while at the +same time the engraver is blamed for executing his work imperfectly, +though in reality the defect is entirely occasioned by the cut not being +properly printed.</p> + +<p>The best mode of cleaning a block after the engraver has taken his +first proof is to rub it well with a piece of woollen cloth. So long as +anything remains to be done with the graver, the block, after taking a +proof, ought never to be cleaned with any liquid, as by such means the +ink on the surface would be dissolved, and the mixture getting between, +the lines would thus cause the cut to appear uniformly black, and render +it difficult for the engraver to finish his work in a proper manner from +his inability to clearly distinguish the lines.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIX39" id = "tagIX39" href = "#noteIX39">IX.39</a> Turpentine or lye +ought to be very sparingly used to clean a cut after the printing is +finished, and never unless the interstices be choked up with ink which +cannot otherwise be removed. When the surface of the block becomes foul, +in consequence of the ink becoming hardened upon it, it is most +advisable to clean it with a little soap and water, using as little +water as possible, and afterwards to rub the block well with a piece of +woollen cloth. When it is necessary to use turpentine in order to get +the hardened ink out of the interstices, the surface of the block should +immediately afterwards be slightly washed with a little soap and water, +and afterwards rubbed with a piece of woollen cloth.<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIX40" id = "tagIX40" href = "#noteIX40">IX.40</a> <i>Warm</i> +water ought never to be used, as it is much more apt than cold to cause +the block to warp and split. The practice of cleaning wood-cuts in the +form by means of a <i>hard</i> brush, dipped in turpentine or lye, is +extremely injurious to the finest parts, as by this means most delicate +lines are not unfrequently broken. The use of anything damp to clean the +cuts when the pressman finishes his day’s-work, is to be avoided; as a +very small degree of damp is sufficient to cause the block to warp when +left locked up over night in the form. Whenever it is practicable, the +cuts ought to be taken out of the form at night, and placed on their +edges till next morning; as, by thus receiving a free circulation of air +all round them, they will be much less liable to warp, than if allowed +to remain in the form. As wood-cuts +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page650" id = "page650"> +650</a></span> +are often injured by being carelessly printed in a rough proof, it is +advisable not to insert them in the form till all the literal +corrections are made, and the text is ready for the press.</p> + +<p>It is a fact, though I am unable to satisfactorily account for it, +that an impression from a wood-block, taken by a common press, without +overlaying, or any other kind of preparation, is generally lighter in +the middle than towards the edges. Mr. Edward Cowper, who has +contributed so much to the improvement of machine-printing, when engaged +in making experiments with common presses constructed with the greatest +care,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIX41" id = "tagIX41" href = +"#noteIX41">IX.41</a> informs me, that he frequently noticed the same +defect. Such inequality in the impression is not perceptible in cuts +printed by a steam-press, where the pressure proceeds from a +<i>cylinder</i> instead of a flat platten of metal or wood. Besides the +advantage which the steam-press possesses over the common press in +producing a uniformly regular impression, the ink in the former method +is more equally distributed over every part of the form in consequence +of the undeviating regularity of the action of the inking rollers. +Though an equal distribution of the ink be of great advantage when all +the cuts in a form require to be printed in the same manner,—that +is, when all are of a similar <i>tone</i> of colour,—yet when some +are dark, and others comparatively light, balls faced with composition +are decidedly preferable to composition rollers, as by using the former +the pressman can give to each cut its proper quantity of ink.</p> + +<p>I very much doubt, if soft composition rollers, such as are now +generally used, be so well adapted as composition balls for inking +wood-cuts engraved on a <i>plane</i> surface. The material of which the +rollers are formed is so soft and elastic, that it does not only pass +over the surface of the block, but penetrates to a certain depth between +the lines, thus inking them at the sides, as well as on their surface. +The consequence of this is, that when the pressure is too great, the +paper is forced in between the lines, and receives, to the great +detriment of the impression, a portion of the ink communicated by +the soft and elastic roller to their sides. For inking cuts delicately +engraved on <i>unlowered</i> blocks, I should recommend composition +balls instead of composition rollers, whenever it is required that such +cuts should be printed in the <i>best</i> manner.</p> + +<p>The great advantage which modern wood engraving possesses over every +other branch of graphic art, is the cheap rate at which its productions +can be disseminated in conjunction with types, by means of the press. +This is the stronghold of the art; and whenever it has been abandoned in +modern times to compete with copper-plate engraving, in point of +delicacy or mere difficulty of execution, the result has been +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page651" id = "page651"> +651</a></span> +a failure. No large modern wood-cuts, published separately, and resting +on their own merits as works of art, have repaid the engraver. The price +at which they were published was too high to allow of their being +purchased by the humbler classes, while the more wealthy collectors of +fine prints have treated them with neglect. Such persons were not +inclined to purchase comparatively expensive wood-cuts merely as +curiosities, showing how closely the peculiarities of copper-plate +engraving could be imitated on wood.</p> + +<p>Though most of the large cuts designed by Albert Durer were either +published separately without letter-press, or in parts with brief +explanations annexed; yet we cannot ascribe the favour with which they +were unquestionably received, to the mere fact of their being executed +<i>on wood</i>. They were adapted to the taste and feelings of the age, +and were esteemed on account of the interest of the subjects and the +excellence of the designs. Were a modern artist of comparatively equal +talent to publish a series of subjects of excellence and originality, +engraved on wood in the best manner, I have little doubt of their +being favourably received; their success, however, would not be owing to +the circumstance of their being engraved on wood, but to their intrinsic +merits as works of art.</p> + +<p>On taking a retrospective glance at the history of wood engraving, it +will be perceived that the art has not been regularly progressive. At +one period we find its productions distinguished for excellence of +design and freedom of execution, and at another we find mere mechanical +labour substituted for the talent of the artist. As soon as this change +commenced, wood engraving, as a means of multiplying works of art began +to decline. It continued in a state of neglect for upwards of a century, +and showed little symptoms of revival until the works of Bewick again +brought it into notice.</p> + +<p>The maxim that “a good thing is valuable in proportion as many can +enjoy it,” may be applied with peculiar propriety to wood engraving; for +the productions of no other kindred art have been more generally +disseminated, nor with greater advantage to those for whom they were +intended. In the child’s first book wood-cuts are introduced, to enable +the infant mind to connect words with things; the youth gains his +knowledge of the forms of foreign animals from wood-cuts; and the +mathematician avails himself of wood engraving to execute his diagrams. +It has been employed, in the representation of religious subjects, as an +aid to devotion; to celebrate the triumphs of kings and warriors; to +illustrate the pages of the historian, the traveller, and the poet; and +by its means copies of the works of the greatest artists of former +times, have been afforded at a price which enabled the very poorest +classes to become purchasers. As at least one hundred thousand good +impressions +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page652" id = "page652"> +652</a></span> +can be obtained from a wood-cut, if properly engraved and carefully +printed; and as the additional cost of printing wood-cuts with +letter-press is inconsiderable when compared with the cost of printing +steel or copper plates separately, the art will never want +encouragement, nor again sink into neglect, so long as there are artists +of talent to furnish designs, and good engravers to execute them.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_652" id = "illus_652"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_652.png" width = "279" height = "198" +alt = "see text: DIES ADDIDIT MEA" title = "DIES ADDIDIT MEA"></p> + +<div class = "footnote"> + +<p><a name = "noteIX1" id = "noteIX1" href = "#tagIX1">IX.1</a> +Memoir of Thomas Bewick, by the Reverend William Turner, prefixed to +volume sixth of the Naturalist’s Library, page 18.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX2" id = "noteIX2" href = "#tagIX2">IX.2</a> +The following is an instance of the effect of dampth upon box-wood. +I placed one evening a block, composed of several pieces of box +glued to a thick piece of mahogany, against the wall of a rather damp +room, and on examining it the next morning I found that the box had +expanded so much that the edges projected beyond the mahogany upwards of +the eighth of an inch.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX3" id = "noteIX3" href = "#tagIX3">IX.3</a> +Some of the blocks engraved for the Penny Magazine, measuring originally +eight inches and a half by six inches, have, after undergoing the +process of stereotyping and the subsequent washing, increased not less +than two inches in their perimeter or exterior lineal dimension, as has +been proved by comparing the measurement of a block in its present state +with a first proof taken on India paper, which paper, being dry when the +impression was taken, has not suffered any contraction.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX4" id = "noteIX4" href = "#tagIX4">IX.4</a> +Sometimes a piece of metal—such as part of a thin rule—is +inserted in the chink by printers, when the part injured is dark and the +work not fine. Such a temporary remedy is sure to increase the opening +in a short time, and make the block worse.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX5" id = "noteIX5" href = "#tagIX5">IX.5</a> +One of the original blocks of Weever’s Funeral Monuments, 1631, +preserved in the Print Room of the British Museum, is of beech.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX6" id = "noteIX6" href = "#tagIX6">IX.6</a> +A few years ago I allowed a rabbit to have the run of a small garden, +where it soon <ins class = "correction" title = "text unchanged: probably correct">eat</ins> up everything except a small bush of box. +Happening to leave home for two days without making any provision for +the rabbit, I found it in a dying state, and all the leaves nibbled +off the box. The rabbit died in the course of a few hours, and on +opening it the cause of its death was apparent—the stomach was +full of the leaves of the box.—See Brand’s Popular Antiquities, +vol. ii. page 265 (Bohn’s edit.), for an account of yew poisoning two +cows.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX7" id = "noteIX7" href = "#tagIX7">IX.7</a> +Instead of gum-water, French artists, who are accustomed to make +drawings on wood, use water in which parchment shavings have been +boiled.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX8" id = "noteIX8" href = "#tagIX8">IX.8</a> +This mode of repairing a block was practised by the German wood +engravers of the time of Albert Durer. The “plug” which they inserted +was usually square, and not circular as at present. The French wood +engravers of the time of Papillon continued to employ square plugs. +There are two or three instances of cuts thus repaired, in the +Adventures of Sir Theurdank, Nuremberg and Augsburg, 1517-1519.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX9" id = "noteIX9" href = "#tagIX9">IX.9</a> +In a tail-piece at page 52 of Bewick’s Fables, edition 1823, a plug +which has been inserted appears lighter than the adjacent parts, in +consequence of its having sunk a little below the surface; and in the +cut to the fable of the Hart and the Vine, in the same work, two large +plugs, at the top, are darker than the other parts in consequence of +their having risen a little above the surface.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX10" id = "noteIX10" href = "#tagIX10">IX.10</a> +French wood engravers are accustomed to rub the sides of the block with +bees’-wax, which on being chafed with the thumb-nail becomes slightly +softened, and thus adheres to the paper.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX11" id = "noteIX11" href = "#tagIX11">IX.11</a> +Papillon’s description of a <i>mentonnière</i> is previously noticed at +page 465.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX12" id = "noteIX12" href = "#tagIX12">IX.12</a> +Papillon preferred a kind of bull’s-eye lens—<i>loupe</i>—of +about three and a half inches diameter, flat on one side and convex on +the other, to a globe filled with water—<i>un bocal</i>—for +the purpose of bringing the light of the lamp to a focus. This +bull’s-eye he had enclosed in a kind of frame, which could be inclined +to any angle, or turned in any direction by means of a ball-and-socket +joint. He gives a cut of it at page 75, vol. ii. of his Traité de la +Gravure en Bois.—I have tried the bull’s-eye lens, but though the +light was equally good as that from the globe, I found that the +heat affected the head in a most unpleasant manner.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX13" id = "noteIX13" href = "#tagIX13">IX.13</a> +A sharp-edged scraper, in shape something like a copper-plate engraver’s +burnisher, is used in the process of <i>lowering</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX14" id = "noteIX14" href = "#tagIX14">IX.14</a> +The handle, when received from the turner’s, is perfectly circular at +the rounded end; but after the blade is inserted, a segment is cut +off at the lower part, as seen in the above cut.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX15" id = "noteIX15" href = "#tagIX15">IX.15</a> +The sky in many of the large wood engravings executed in London is now +cut by means of a machine invented by Mr. John Parkhouse. In many steel +engravings the sky is ruled in by means of a machine by persons who do +little else.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX16" id = "noteIX16" href = "#tagIX16">IX.16</a> +Lectures on Sculpture, pp. 172-193.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX17" id = "noteIX17" href = "#tagIX17">IX.17</a> +As the drawing is the reverse of the impression, it is necessary to +observe that the motion of the graver in this case is from right to left +on the block,—that is, the point B forms the beginning, and not +the termination, of the first line when the work is properly commenced. +The lines are represented in the cut as they would appear when drawn on +a block to be engraved in the manner recommended.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX18" id = "noteIX18" href = "#tagIX18">IX.18</a> +The subject of this cut is the beautiful monument to the memory of two +children executed by Sir F. Chantrey, in Lichfield Cathedral.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX19" id = "noteIX19" href = "#tagIX19">IX.19</a> +This small cut is a fac-simile, the size of the original, of Sir David +Wilkie’s first sketch for his picture of the Rabbit on the Wall.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX20" id = "noteIX20" href = "#tagIX20">IX.20</a> +The original sketch, from which the figure was copied, is by +Morland.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX21" id = "noteIX21" href = "#tagIX21">IX.21</a> +In this cut the <i>white</i> outline, mentioned at page 587, is +distinctly seen at the top of the buildings and above the trees.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX22" id = "noteIX22" href = "#tagIX22">IX.22</a> +Some account of the maps in Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography is +previously given at page 204, and page 417.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX23" id = "noteIX23" href = "#tagIX23">IX.23</a> +When there is any danger of the block splitting from this cause, it is +best to have a cast taken from it, as by this means the whole is +obtained of one solid piece.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX24" id = "noteIX24" href = "#tagIX24">IX.24</a> +The first work containing lowered cuts printed by a steam-press was that +on Cattle, published in numbers, under the superintendence of the +Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1832.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX25" id = "noteIX25" href = "#tagIX25">IX.25</a> +The <i>casts</i> are precisely the same as the <i>dies</i> from which +the coin is struck.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX26" id = "noteIX26" href = "#tagIX26">IX.26</a> +If the drawing were finished, the lines on the parts intended to be +light would necessarily be effaced in lowering the block in such +parts.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX27" id = "noteIX27" href = "#tagIX27">IX.27</a> +In cuts printed by a steam-press it not unfrequently happens that +lowering to the depth of the sixteenth part of an inch scarcely produces +a perceptible difference in the strength of the impression. In cuts +inked with leather balls, and printed at the common press, the lines in +parts lowered to this depth would not be visible.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX28" id = "noteIX28" href = "#tagIX28">IX.28</a> +Sir William Congreve’s mode of colour printing, however, patented many +years ago, and now practised by Mr. Charles Whiting of Beaufort House, +is one of the least expensive of all. It consists in printing several +colours at one time, and may be thus described:—“A coloured design +being made on a block, the various colours are cut into their respective +sections, like a geographical puzzle, and placed in an ingeniously +constructed machine, which inks them separately, and prints them +together. By this mode speed is obtained in large operations, and the +colours are prevented from running into each other. It is extensively +applied to book-covers, decorative show-cards, the back of country +notes, and labels, where the object is to prevent forgery.”—<i>See +Bohn’s Lecture on Printing, page 104.</i></p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX29" id = "noteIX29" href = "#tagIX29">IX.29</a> +The best specimen of this art will be found in Charles Knight’s Old +England’s Worthies, a folio volume, containing twelve large plates +of Architecture and Costume, printed in colours, and 240 portraits +engraved on steel, folio (now published by H. G. Bohn), 15<i>s.</i> +The practice of the art has not been continued, as it was only +applicable to very large editions (ten thousand and upwards), and was +more expensive than hand colouring where small editions were required. +The machinery has been sold off and destroyed.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX30" id = "noteIX30" href = "#tagIX30">IX.30</a> +The Book of Thel, which, with the titles, consists of seven quarto pages +of verse and figures engraved in metallic relief, is dated 1789. +A full list of the works of this remarkable artist will be found in +Bohn’s enlarged edition of Lowndes’s Bibliographer’s Manual.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX31" id = "noteIX31" href = "#tagIX31">IX.31</a> +A cast from a form of types, as well as from an engraved wood-block, is +by French printers termed a <i>cliché</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX32" id = "noteIX32" href = "#tagIX32">IX.32</a> +The metal of which this matrix is formed, is made several degrees harder +than common type metal, by mixing with the latter a greater portion of +regulus of antimony, otherwise the matrix and cast would adhere.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX33" id = "noteIX33" href = "#tagIX33">IX.33</a> +Taken from Mr. S. Leigh Sotheby’s <i>Principia Typographica</i>, 3 vols. +folio—to whose kindness we are indebted for the reduced block.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX34" id = "noteIX34" href = "#tagIX34">IX.34</a> +The principal difference, so far as relates to wood engravings, between +printing by a steam-press with cylindrical rollers, and printing by a +common press with a blanket, is, that the blanket or woollen cloth +covering the cylinder of the steam-press comes into immediate contact +with the paper, while in the common press the parchment of the tympan is +interposed between the paper and the blanket. It is necessary that cuts +intended to be printed by a steam-press should be lowered to a greater +depth than cuts intended to be printed with a blanket at a common press, +as the blanket on the cylinder penetrates to a greater depth between the +lines.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX35" id = "noteIX35" href = "#tagIX35">IX.35</a> +I have known a printer, who <i>once</i> had a high character for his +<i>fine</i> work, charge and receive twelve guineas per sheet for a book +containing a number of wood-cuts which required to be well printed, and +I have known a similar work better printed from lowered blocks for less +than half the sum per sheet. Publishers will at no distant time +discover, that it is their interest rather to have their cuts first +properly engraved than to pay a printer a large additional sum for the +trouble of overlaying them, and thus giving them the appearance which +they ought to have without such means and appliances, if the blocks were +originally executed as they ought to be.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX36" id = "noteIX36" href = "#tagIX36">IX.36</a> +The cuts being arranged back to back, as at pages 641, 642, and thereby +preventing the types appearing, as they do on the next page, is an +advantage not to be overlooked.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX37" id = "noteIX37" href = "#tagIX37">IX.37</a> +What is called <i>underlaying</i> consists in pasting one piece of paper +or more on the lower part of a block, in order to raise it, and increase +the pressure. When a block is uneven at the bottom, in consequence of +warping, underlaying is indispensable.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX38" id = "noteIX38" href = "#tagIX38">IX.38</a> +The entire quantity of types, or of types and wood-cuts, which is locked +up together, and printed on one side of a sheet at one impression, is +called by printers a <i>form</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX39" id = "noteIX39" href = "#tagIX39">IX.39</a> +When a block, after being printed, requires retouching, it is generally +necessary to cover it with fine whiting, which, by filling up the +interstices, thus enables the engraver to distinguish the raised lines +more clearly.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX40" id = "noteIX40" href = "#tagIX40">IX.40</a> +When a block has been cleaned with turpentine, and not afterwards washed +with soap and water, it will not receive the ink well when next used. +The first fifty or sixty impressions subsequently taken, are almost +certain to have a grey and scumbled appearance.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIX41" id = "noteIX41" href = "#tagIX41">IX.41</a> +Some of those presses were so truly constructed, that if the table were +wetted, and brought in contact with the platten, it could be raised from +its bed by allowing the platten to ascend, in consequence of the two +surfaces being so perfectly plane and level.</p> + +</div> +</div> + +<div class = "endnote"> +<p><a name = "page_image" id = "page_image" href = "#page616">Page +616</a>, as printed:</p> + +<p class ="illustration"> +<img src = "images/page616.png" width = "448" height = "679" +alt = "complete page image"></p> +</div> + +<div class = "correction"> +<h5>Errors in Chapter IX</h5> + +<p><span class = "citation"> +[IX.10]</span><br> +<i>footnote tag missing: best guess</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +that the colour would be proportionably stronger</span><br> +<i>text unchanged</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +Messrs. Vizetelly, Branston, and Co.</span><br> +Vizitelly</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +by means of a rolling-press,</span><br> +<i>comma invisible</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +[IX.38]</span><br> +<i>footnote tag missing: best guess</i></p> + +<p>Footnote IX.6</p> +<p class = "continue"> +<span class = "citation">where it soon eat up everything</span><br> +<i>text unchanged: probably correct</i></p> +</div> + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html">Introduction</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#illus">List of Illustrations</a> (separate +file)</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving1.html">Chapter I</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving1.html#chap_II">Chapter II</a> (separate +file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving1.html#chap_III">Chapter III</a> (separate +file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html">Chapter IV</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html#chap_V">Chapter V</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving6.html">Chapter VI</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving7.html">Chapter VII</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving8.html">Chapter VIII</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "#chap_IX">Chapter IX</a></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#index">Index</a> (separate file)</p> +</div> + +</body> +</html> |