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 Book to denote the sculptured foliage and tracery at the sides of a window:

“And if I should rehearsen by and by The corve knots, by craft and masonry, The fresh embowing with virges right as lines, And the housing full of backewines, The rich coining, the lusty battlements, _Vinettes_ running in casements.”

[Illustrations: O Q H I E F F D G V B]

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.

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 _relief_,--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.

If casts be taken of each side of the same coin, the parts which in the original are raised, or in _relief_, will then be concave, or in _intaglio_;[IX-25] 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 being now highest will appear positively black, while the figures now in _intaglio_, or _lowered_, as I should say when speaking of a wood-cut, will appear lighter in proportion to the concavity of the different parts.

[Footnote IX-25: The _casts_ are precisely the same as the _dies_ from which the coin is struck.]

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.

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,[IX-26] 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.

[Footnote IX-26: 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.]

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;[IX-27] 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 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.

[Footnote IX-27: 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.]

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.

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 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 _depth_ 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 A to B, it will be necessary to hollow the block to the depth indicated by the dotted line A c B. Should it extend from A to D, it will require to be lowered to the depth of the dotted line A e D in order to obtain the same degree of lightness in colour as in the lowered part A c B of less area,--that is, supposing the engraved lines in both cases to be of equal delicacy.

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 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.

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.

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 _brought up_, 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 _lowering_ in a wood engraving.

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 _white_ 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.

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 _white_ outline--such as is seen in the ladder--round all those parts where the true 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 _pure white_, great care must be taken that the wood be sufficiently _bevelled_ 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 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.

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.

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 _tear_ 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.

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.

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 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.

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 _woolly_. 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.

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.

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 _nearly_ 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 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.

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.[IX-28] 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.

[Footnote IX-28: 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.”--_See Bohn’s Lecture on Printing, page 104._]

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 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.

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.

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.[IX-29]

[Footnote IX-29: 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_s._ 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.]

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 _etch_ 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 _in relief_,--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 _drawn_ upon the plate in Burgundy pitch, or any other substance which will resist the action of aquafortis, in the same manner as copper-plate engravers in the ordinary process _stop out_ the parts intended to be white. When the substance in which the drawing is made becomes _set_, or sufficiently hard, the plate is surrounded with a _wall_, as it is technically termed, and aquafortis being poured upon it, all the unprotected parts are corroded, and the drawing left in relief.

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,[IX-30] 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:--

“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.”

[Footnote IX-30: 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.]

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 _through_ 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 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.

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.

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 _white_. When this process, which may be termed _reverse etching_, 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.

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 reader will observe--but this is only one of the distinguishing excellences of this new and splendid invention of Mr. Lizars.”

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.

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 _intaglio_ are in the cast in _relief_. 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 _through_ to the plate below. When this plaster etching is completed, a cast is taken from it in type-metal; and, after being _cleared out_, the subject in metallic relief can be printed at a common press in the manner of a wood-cut. According to this plan only _one_ 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.

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.

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 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.

Casts in metallic relief from etchings always appear coarse; and, from the experiments hitherto made, it seems impossible to execute _fine_ 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.

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 _dark_ or _light_ 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.

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, the demand which the progress of education has created for maps, school prints, elementary examples of fine art, and illustrations _on a large scale_ 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 _sound_ 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.

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. Vizetelly, 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 _cheapest_ mode, however, is to have such ornaments first engraved on wood, and casts afterwards taken from them in type metal. One great objection to _cutting_ on metal with the graver is, that the metal _cuts the paper_ in printing from it.

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 _clichage_[IX-31]--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,[IX-32] 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.

[Footnote IX-31: A cast from a form of types, as well as from an engraved wood-block, is by French printers termed a _cliché_.]

[Footnote IX-32: 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.]

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 _clichage_ a delicately engraved block is extremely 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 _picker_ 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.

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 _oil_ of lavender instead of the _essence_: if a very old impression, apply the preparation to its face.

Since the former edition of this work considerable improvements have been made in the mode of taking casts, of which the principal is _electrotyping_, 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.

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. The art was first brought out as Collins’s process, but is now called the _Electro-printing Block process_, 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,[IX-33] and then electrotyped 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 _vice versâ_. 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.

[Footnote IX-33: Taken from Mr. S. Leigh Sotheby’s _Principia Typographica_, 3 vols. folio--to whose kindness we are indebted for the reduced block.]

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 _with a blanket_, 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.[IX-34] When it is intended to print cuts in what is called the _best_ 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.

[Footnote IX-34: 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.]

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 should the publisher or proprietor of the work afterwards change his intention, and decide on having them printed in the _best_ 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 _in_-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 _something_ 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 _fine_ work, and whose names on this account are announced in advertisements in connexion with those of the author, designer, and publisher, as a guarantee for the superior manner in which the cuts contained in the work will be printed.[IX-35] 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.

[Footnote IX-35: I have known a printer, who _once_ had a high character for his _fine_ 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.]

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 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.

Should a wood-cut engraved on a plane surface, with the intention of its being printed in the _best_ manner,--that is, at a common press with overlays, and _without_ a blanket,--be printed at a steam-press, or at a common press _with_ a blanket, it will present a very different appearance to the engraver’s proof.[IX-36] The following cut, which ought properly to have been printed in the _best_ manner, is here printed improperly _with a blanket_, 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.

[Footnote IX-36: 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.]

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 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.

The mode of printing by the common press without a blanket, and of _helping_ 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[IX-37] 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 _bringing up_. 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.

[Footnote IX-37: What is called _underlaying_ 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.]

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 _into_ 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; 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.

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.

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 _good face_ 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.

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 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.

Mr. Savage, at page 46 of his Hints on Decorative Printing, recommends that in a sheet which consists entirely of letter-press in one _form_,[IX-38] 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.”

[Footnote IX-38: 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 _form_.]

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 _clear_ and _distinct_ 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 _dried_ and pressed?

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.

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 _state of the block_, 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 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.

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.[IX-39] 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.[IX-40] _Warm_ 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 _hard_ 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 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.

[Footnote IX-39: 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.]

[Footnote IX-40: 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.]

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,[IX-41] 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 _cylinder_ 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 _tone_ 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.

[Footnote IX-41: 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.]

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 _plane_ 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 _unlowered_ blocks, I should recommend composition balls instead of composition rollers, whenever it is required that such cuts should be printed in the _best_ manner.

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 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.

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 _on wood_. 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.

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.

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 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.

INDEX.

A.

Absolon, John, artist, 576*. Accursius, Mariangelus, note written by, in a Donatus, 123. Advertisements, wood-cuts prefixed to, 446 _n_. Allegory of Death, a tract printed at Bamberg, 1462, 171. Almanach de Paris, with wood-cuts, by Papillon, 459. Almanacks, sheet, 1470, 1500, 225. Alphabet of figures, engraved on wood, in the British Museum, 106; cuts from, 109, 110, 111, 112; with figures, of a Dance of Death, preserved in the public library at Basle, 352. Altdorffer, A. 320. Amman, Jost, cuts designed by, in a book of trades and professions, 408, 409; other cuts designed by him, 411. Amonoph, a name on an Egyptian brick-stamp, 6 _n_. Andreani, Andrea, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 432. Andrews, G. H. painter, 598*. Anelay, H. artist, 575*. Angus, George, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, printer, wood-cuts used by, in cheap works, 180, 228. Annunciation, old cut of the, 50. Ansdell, Richard, painter, 598*. Ansgarius, St., supposed to have been the compiler of the Biblia Pauperum, 94. Antichrist, cuts of, 61. Antonianus, Silvius, a cardinal, claimed by Papillon as a wood engraver, 337. Antonio, Marc, his copies of the Little Passion and the Life of the Virgin, designed by Durer, 251. Antwerp, painters’ company of, entertain Durer, 261; procession in honour of the Virgin, _ib._ Apelles, the image of the life of man as painted in a table by, 436 _n_. [[_text has “432”_]] Apocalypse, an ancient block-book, 61, 68; cuts in illustration of, from Durer’s designs, 239. Appeal to Christendom, early specimen of typography, 138. Arch, triumphal, of Maximilian, designed by Durer, 255. Archer, J. draughtsman, 599*. Archer, J. W. draughtsman, 599*. Aretin, J. C. von, 114. Armitage, Edward, painter, 598*. Armstrong, T. engraver, 592*. Armstrong, Wm. engraver, 600*. Ars Memorandi, 113; cut from, 115. Ars Moriendi, an old block-book, 116. Art, early German, 3. Assen, J. W. van, 318. Astle’s Origin and Progress of Writing, 20. Atkinson, G. C., his Life of Bewick, 477, 478, 480, 482, 492, 501, 503, 505. Austin, an English wood-engraver, 538.

B.

Babylonian brick, 7. Balls, leather, formerly used by pressmen, not so elastic as composition rollers, 620. Bamberg, a book of fables printed at, in 1461, 171. Bämler, John, a printer of Augsburg, 180. Baptism of Drusiana, 66. Bartsch, Adam, of opinion that Albert Durer did not engrave on wood, 237. Battailes, La Fleur des, 1505, 210. Baxter, George, his improvements in printing in colours, 406; his chiaro-scuros and picture-prints, 629. Beating time with the foot mistaken for printing, 120. Beaumont, Sir George, curious alphabet of figures engraved on wood, formerly belonging to, 106. Bechtermuntze, Henry and Nicholas, early printers, related to Gutemberg, 142. Beddoes, Dr. Thomas, his poem of Alexander’s expedition down the Hydaspes, with wood-cuts, by E. Dyas, 1792, 463 _n_. Behaim, Michael, letter to, from Albert Durer, 235. Behaim, H. S. 253 _n_, 320. Beilby, Ralph, the partner of Bewick, 479. Beildeck, Lawrence, his evidence in the suit of the Drytzehns against Gutemberg, 1438, 128. Bekker, R. Z. editor of a collection of wood-cuts, from old blocks in the possession of the Baron Von Derschau, 226. Bellini, Giovanni, his praise of Durer, 242. Bells, inscriptions on, 20. Bennett, C. draughtsman, 599*. Benting, William, Lord of Rhoon and Pendraght, a fictitious character, mentioned by T. Nieuhoff Piccard, 360, 361 _n_, 363. Bernacle or Barnacle Goose, 414. Bernardin, St. account of an old wood-cut of, 56. Beroaldus, Peter, editor of an edition of Ptolemy, 201. Best, Andrew, and Leloir, their metallic relief engraving, 636. Bethemsted, a name in an old book of wood-cuts, 111. Beugnet, a French wood engraver, 547. Bewick, Thomas, his birth, 1753, 472; apprenticed to Mr. R. Beilby, 474; engraves the diagrams in Hutton’s Mensuration, 1768-1770, 475; receives a premium for his cut of the Old Hound, 1775, 476; visits London, 477; cuts engraved by him in a Hieroglyphic Bible, 478; his love of the country, 479; his partnership with Beilby, _ib._; his cuts in Gay’s Fables, 480; his cut of the Chillingham Bull, 481; his Quadrupeds, 1791, 482-490; his British Birds, 1797-1804, 490-502; his Select Fables, 1818, 502-506; his cut of the Old Horse waiting for Death, 510; his diligence, 507; his death, _ib._; tribute to his merits from Blackwood’s Magazine, 512; list of portraits of him, 509 _n_. Bewick, John, notice of his principal works, 513. Bible, the Mazarine, printed prior to August, 1456, 139. Bible supposed to have been printed by Pfister, at Bamberg, 181. Bible cuts, Lyons, 1538, designed by Holbein, 365-371; engravings from 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92. Bible, Quadrins Historiques de la, 402. Biblia Pauperum, 80-94. Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum, 83. Bildhauer, 2. Binding, old, 60. Birds, engraved by Bewick’s pupils, 492 _n_. Birkman, Arnold, Dance of Death, copied from the Lyons edition, published by his heirs, Cologne, 1555-1572, 336. Blake, William, his mode of engraving in metallic relief, 632; his drawing of Death’s Door, engraved by Linton, 591. Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, cut from, 534. Blocking out, 589. Block-books claimed for Lawrence Coster, 58. Blocks, original, of the Triumphs of Maximilian, preserved at Vienna, 291. Bolton, Thomas, wood engraver, 576*, 577*. Bombo, the name of a dog, supposed by Papillon to be the name of a wood-engraver, 337 _n_. Bomb shell, cut of a, from a book printed in 1472, 187. Borbonius, or Bourbon, Nicholas, verses by, in praise of Holbein, 356, 357, 362, 367. Borders, flowered, earliest specimens of in books, 209. Böttiger, C. A. 21. Box-wood, different qualities of, 563, 566. Brandling, H. draughtsman, 599*. Brands for marking cattle, 11. Branston, Robert, notice of his principal wood-cuts, 535-538. Branston, R. the younger, wood-engraver, 544; his method of engraving in metallic relief, 634. Branston, F. W. wood-engraver, 544, 545. Brass stamps, 10. Brasses, monumental, 21. Braunche, Robert, his monument at Lynn, 22. Breitkopf, G. J. his attempt to print maps with separative pieces of type-metal, 1776, 205. Breydenbach’s Travels, 1486, 206-209. Bricks, from Egypt and Babylon, 6, 7. Bridget, St., early cut of, 52. Brief of Indulgence, 1454, an early specimen of typography, 137. Briefe, cards so called in Germany, 42. Briefmaler and Briefdrucker, 43, 410. British Birds, History of, with cuts by Bewick, 490-502. Broughton, Hugh, his Concent of Scripture, with copper-plate engravings, 1591, 423. Büchel, Emanuel, a Dance of Death copied by, in water-colours, 326. Bukinck, Arnold, printer, his edition of Ptolemy, 1478, with maps, engraved on copper, 200. Bullet, J. B. his Researches on Playing Cards, 40. Bulwer, Sir E. Lytton, quoted, 398. Burgmair, Hans, painter, and designer on wood, 277. Burleigh, Lord, his portrait in Archbishop Parker’s edition of the Bible, 1568, 419. Burnet, John, his engraving of Chelsea Pensioners, after Wilkie, 213. Burning in the hand, 12. Bury, Richard de, makes no mention of wood engraving, 39. Businck, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 440. Buttons, silver, engraved by Bewick, 479. Bybel, Historische School en Huis, Amsterdam, 1743, with wood-cuts, 459. Byfield, John, wood engraver, 544.

C.

Calcar, John, a Flemish painter, 434. Calderinus, D. editor of an edition of Ptolemy, 208. Camus, his account of a book printed at Bamberg, 1462, 171. Canticles, illustrations of, 71, 72. Capitals, ornamented, in Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, 426; in English and other books, 616, 617. Car, triumphal, of Maximilian, designed by Durer, 255. Cards, known in 1340, 40. Caron, Nicholas, wood engraver, his portrait of Papillon, 466 _n_. Carpi, Ugo da, engraver of chiaro-scuros, on wood, 230, 307. Cartouch, 28 _n_. Casts, stereotype, early, 418; modern, 636; clichage, 637. Cat edition of Dante, Venice, 1578, 431. Catherine, St. patroness of learned men, 207. Catholicon Johannis Januensis, 135 _n_. Cauteria, 12. Caxton, W. books printed by,--Game of Chess, 191; Mirror of the World, 194; Golden Legend, Fables of Esop, Canterbury Tales, 195. Caylus, Count, chiaro-scuros executed by, and N. Le Sueur, 456 _n_. Cessolis, J. de, his work on Chess, 197. Champollion, 6 _n_. Chantrey, Sir F. monument by, in Lichfield Cathedral, 589, 590. Characters in an old Dutch Dance of Death, 318, 329 _n_. Charlemagne, his monogram, 14. Chelidonius, 243, 251. Chelsea Pensioners, engraving of, after Sir D. Wilkie, 213. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, 48. Chess, the Game of, printed by Caxton, 191. Chiaro-scuro, engraving on wood, known in Germany, in 1509, 230. Chiaro-scuros, 307, 402, 432, 440, 451, 455, 467, 628. Children in the Wood, cut from, 533. Chillingham bull, cut of, by Bewick, 481. Chinese engraving and printing, 23. Chirotipografia, or hand-printing, 44 _n_. Chisels, 578. Christopher, St. wood-cut of, in the possession of Earl Spencer, 45, 46. Chrysographus, 121. Circular wood engravings in the British Museum, 54 _n_. Clayton, J. R. draughtsman, 599*. Cleaning wood cuts after printing, mode of, 649. Clennell, Luke, a pupil of Bewick, biographical notice of, 521-527. Clerc, Sebastian le, cuts in Croxall’s Æsop’s Fables, copied from his engravings, 450. Clichage, a mode of taking a cast from a wood engraving, 637. Coeck, Peter, of Alost, his Costumes and Manners of the Turks, 402. Coining, its antiquity, 19. Cole, Humphrey, an English engraver, 1572, 419. Coleman, Wm. artist, 599*. Collation of editions of the Speculum Salvationis, 102. Cologne Chronicle, unfairly quoted by the advocates of Coster, 122. Colonna, Francis, author of the Hypnerotomachia, 218. Colour, the meaning of the word when applied to engravings, 213. Committee of the House of Commons on Arts and their Connexion with Manufactures, 305. Congreve’s, Sir Wm. mode of colour printing, 630. Concanen, M. wood cut in Miscellaneous Poems, published by, 1724, 453. Cooper, James, wood-engraver, 550, 552. Coornhert, Theodore, claims the invention of printing for Harlem, 146. Cope, C. W. painter, 598*. Copperplate engraving, its invention ascribed to Varro, 21. Copperplates, earliest books containing, 200; the earliest engraved in England, 419. Corbould, E. H. painter, 598*. Coriolano, Bartolomeo, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 440. Cornelius, a bookbinder, his account of Coster’s invention, 150-152. Coster, Lawrence, first mentioned by Hadrian Junius as the inventor of printing, 147; account of his invention, 149. Cotman’s Sepulchral Brasses, 22 _n_. Coverdale, Miles, cuts in his translation of the Bible, 1535, 385-389. Cowper, Edward, his invention for piercing wood blocks for map engraving, 205. Cracherode, Rev. C. M. prints and books presented by him to the British Museum, 72, 231, 355, 385. Cranach, Lucas, painter and designer on wood, 275; chiaro-scuros cut after, 276; figure of Christ printed in colours, supposed to be by him, 404. Cranmer, Archbishop, his Catechism, 1548, with wood cuts, 380-382. Creswick, T. artist. 588*, 589*. Cropsey, Jasper, painter, 598*. Crown-piece of George IV., impressions of casts from, 618. Crowquill, Alfred, artist, 597*. Cross-hatching, 224, 234, 562. Croxall’s Æsop’s Fables, wood cuts in, 1722, 448-451. Cruikshank, George, artist, 595*, 596*. Cuningham’s, Dr. William, Cosmographical Glass, 1559, 421, 425; his portrait, 424; cuts from his book, 425, 426, 427. Cunio, Alberic and Isabella, pretended wood engravers, 26. Curved lines, the effect of, 585. Cutting tools, 576.

D.

Dalziel, Bros. wood engravers, 559-562*, 566*. Dalziel, Thomas, artist, 562*. Dammetz, Lucas, called also Lucas Van Leyden, 308. Dampth, its effect on box-wood, 564. Dance of Death, in old churches, 325; at Basle, 326; in old French and other books, 328; the Lyons Dance of Death, 1538, with cuts, designed by Hans Holbein, 329-364; his Alphabet containing his Dance of Death, 352. Dante, edition of, with copper-plates, 1482; the cat edition of, Venice, 1578, 431. Darley, Felix, draughtsman, 599*. Dates of block books and cuts, mistake about, 58. Day, John, an English printer, supposed to have also engraved on wood, 425. Denecker, Jobst, publisher of a Dance of Death at Augsburg, 1544, 336. Dentatus, the large cut of the death of, engraved by W. Harvey, 528; specimens of it, 601, 609. Derschau, the Baron Von, his collection of old wood blocks, 93, 226; his character, 236 _n_. Desroches, M. ascribes the invention of printing to “Vedelare Lodewyc,” 119. Deutsch, N. E. 314. Dickes, W. draughtsman, 599*. Dinkel, Joseph, draughtsman, 593*. Doctrinale gette en mole, 122. Dodd, Daniel and John, wood engravers, 544. Dodgson, G. painter, 598*. Dolce, Ludovico, his Transformationi, a paraphrase of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 394. Dominicals, stamped on paper, 120. Dominotiers, 45. Donatus, a grammatical treatise so called, printed from wood blocks, 117; one supposed to have been _stamped_, 1340, 121; idea of typography perhaps suggested by such a work, 123. Douce, Francis, his opinion about the name Machabre, 325; his list of books containing figures of a Dance of Death, 328; his edition of the Dance of Death, 1833, 338; denies that the cuts in the Lyons edition were designed by Holbein, 346; but believes, on the authority of an unknown writer, named Piccard, that Holbein painted a Dance of Death in the old palace at Whitehall, 360. Dovaston’s account of Bewick, 478 _n_. Doyle, R. artist. 578*, 579*. Drawings, of a Dance of Death, supposed to be originals, by Holbein, 357; by Robert Johnson, purchased of Beilby and Bewick, by the Earl of Bute, 517; on wood, mode of preparing the block for, 570; for wood engraving, difficulty of obtaining good, 592. Drytzehn, Andrew, a partner of Gutemberg’s, 126. Duncan, Edward, artist, 583*. Dünne, Hans, work done by him for Gutemberg, on account of printing, previous to 1438, 129. Durer, Albert, placed as pupil under Michael Wolgemuth, 238; earliest known copper-plate of his engraving, 1494, 239; his illustrations of the Apocalypse, _ib._; his visit to Venice, 241; his illustrations of the History of the Virgin, 243-246; of Christ’s Passion, 246-250; triumphal car, 255; triumphal arch, _ib._; his earliest etchings, 257; specimen of his carving in the British Museum, 258; his poetry, 260 _n_; his visit to Flanders, 260-270; his portrait, 272; lock of his hair preserved, 321 _n_; his death, said to have been hastened through his wife’s bad temper, 239, 273. Dyas, E. a self-taught wood engraver, 463 _n_. Dyers of Ovingham, 501.

E.

Edmonston, S. draughtsman, 599*. Egyptian brick stamp, 5, 6. Electro-printing block process, specimen of, 639. Electrotyping, 638. Elizabeth, Queen, portrait of, in Archbishop Parker’s Bible, 1568, 419; in her Prayer-Book, 427, 428. Emblems of Mortality, with cuts, engraved by John Bewick, 1789, 329, 513. Emblems, Religious, with wood-cuts, 1808, 520. English book, the earliest, that contains wood-cuts, 191-194. Engraving, the word explained, 1; copper-plate, 20, 200, 419. Enschedius, J., specimen of typography discovered by him, 161. Entkrist, Der, an old block-book, 1. Erasmus, portrait of, painted by Durer, 263; invoked by Durer to exert himself in behalf of the Reformation, 267; his worldly wisdom displayed in his letter introducing Holbein to Aegidius, 375; his Ship of Fools, with cuts by Seb. Brandt, 468. Etching, the process of, explained, 258 _n_; in metallic relief, 632. Evans, Edmund, wood engraver, 556, 567*. Eve, creation of, conventional mode of representing, 215, 216. Evelyn’s Sculptura, 5, 408. Eyck, Hubert and J. van, paintings by them, 265.

F.

Fables, book of, printed at Bamberg, 1461, 171; Æsop’s, 1722, 448; Select, with cuts, by Bewick, 1818, 502-506. Fairholt, F. W. artist, 592*. Falconer’s Shipwreck, 1808, with cuts by Clennell, 522. Fanti, Sigismond, his Triompho di Fortuna, Venice, 1527, 315. Fantuzzi, Antonio, called also Antonio da Trente, engraver of chiaro-scuros, 389. Fasciculus Temporum, with wood-cuts, 1474, 190. Faust, John, becomes a partner of Gutemberg, 131; sues him for money advanced, 133; gains the cause, 134. Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter of 1457, 164. Fellowship, or Guild of St. Luke, at Antwerp, 121. Figures du Nouveau Testament, 402. Flaxman’s Lectures, print of the creation of Eve in, 217; cut from his relief, “Deliver us from evil,” 577*; his opinion of expressionand sentiment in art, 585; cut from a design by, 590. Folkard, W. A. wood engraver, 544, 564*. Forma, a shape or mould, 42. Formschneider, 19, 43, 44, 410. Foster, Birket, artist, 551, 556-558, 570*, 571*. Fournier, P. S. his discoveries with respect to the Speculum Salvationis, 101; his opinion of wooden types, 136; his works, 467-469. Fox’s, John, Acts and Monuments, 428. Fracture, 283 _n_. Franklin, John, draughtsman, 599*. Frellon, John and Francis, publishers of the second edition of the Lyons Dance of Death, 366. French wood-cuts, 610. Frey, Agnes, the wife of Durer, her avarice and ill-temper said to have hastened her husband’s death, 273. Frith, W. P. painter, 59.

G.

Gænsfleisch, a surname of the family of Gutemberg, 124. Galenus de Temperamentis, with a title-page, engraved on copper, printed at Cambridge, 1521, 421. Galius, Nicholas, tells the story of Coster’s invention to H. Junius, 150. Gamperlin, Von, cuts ascribed to, 314. Garfagninus, Joseph Porta, 390. Gebhard, L. A. his notice of the History of the Council of Constance, with cuts of arms, 189. Gemini, Thomas, his Compendium of Anatomy, with copper-plate engravings, London, 1545, 422. Gent, Thomas, wood-cuts in his History of Ripon, 181. George IV. his signature stamped, 14; his snuff-box, with designs by Flaxman, 590. Gesner, Conrad, expressly mentions the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death, as having been designed by Holbein, 364. Ghesquiere, M. his answer to M. Desroches, 120. Gilbert, John, artist, 561*, 563*, 564*. Gilpin, Rev. William, his definition of tint, 213. Giolito, Gabriel, printer, of Venice, 394. Giraffe, wood-cut of a, in Breydenbach’s Travels, 1486, 269. Glasses, observations on the use of, 573. Globe, glass, the engraver’s, to concentrate the light of the lamp, 575. Glockendon, George, an early German wood engraver, 227. Glockenton, A. cuts ascribed to, 317. Goethe, allusion to Sir Theurdank, in his Götz Von Berlichingen, 281 _n_. Golden Legend, printed by W. de Worde, 1493, large cut in, 195. Goldsmith and Parnell’s Poems, printed by Bulmer, 513. Goltzius, Henry, chiaro-scuros by, 432. Goltzius, Hubert, his portraits of the Roman Emperors in chiaro-scuro, from plates of metal, 1557, 405. Goodall, E. painter, 598*. Goodall, W. draughtsman, 599*. Goose, Bernacle or Barnacle, said to be produced from a tree, 414. Gorway, Charles, wood engraver, 544, 600*. Gospels of Ulphilas, 44. Gothic monograms, 15. Graff, Rose, 313, 314. Grand-duc de l’armée céleste, 173. Grant, W. J. painter, 598*. Gratture, the French term for the process of thickening the lines in a wood-cut by scraping them down, 464. Gravers, 574, 575. Gray, Charles, wood-engraver, 544. Green, W. T. wood-engraver, 544, 547, 548. Greenaway, J. wood-engraver, 553-555. Greff, Jerome, publisher of a pirated edition of Durer’s Illustrations of the Apocalypse, 241. Greffier and Scrivener, 2 _n_. Gregson, Mr. C., letter to, from Bewick, 474, 479. Gringonneur, Jacquemin, cards painted by, 41. Gritner, a French wood-engraver, 547. Grotesque, 9 _n_. Grün, H. B. 320. Gubitz, a modern German wood-engraver, 546. Guicciardini, L. mentions the report of printing having been invented at Harlem, 146. Gutemberg, John, his birth, 124; residing at Strasburg in 1434, 125; his partnership with Andrew Drytzehn, _ib._; evidences of his having a _press_ in 1438, for the purpose of printing, 127; his return to Mentz and partnership with Faust, 131; partnership dissolved, 133; proofs of his having afterwards had a press of his own, 140; his death and epitaph, 144.

H.

Hahn, Ulric, Meditationes J. de Turrecremata, printed by, in 1467, 184. Hammond, --, wood-engraver, 600*. Hancock, Charles, his patent for engraving in metallic relief, 635. Handgun, figure of one seen in cut in Valturius, de Re Militari, 1472, 187. Hans, Young, Briefmaler, 116, 225. Harral, Horace, wood-engraver, 566*, 583*, 594*. Harrington, Sir John, his translation of Ariosto, with copper-plate engravings, 1591, 423. Hartlieb, Dr. Cyromantia, 116. Harvey, William, a pupil of Bewick, notice of his works as an engraver and designer, 527-534. Hawkins, John Sidney, editor of Emblems of Mortality, 1789, 329. Hawkins, Sir John, wood-cuts in his History of Music, 1776, 471. Haydock, R. his translation of Lomazzo, with copper-plate engraving, 1598, 423. Head of Paris, the lover of Helen, serves for that of Thales, Dante, and others, 212. Hegner, Ulrich, author of Life of Holbein, his notice of the Dance of Death, at Basle, 326; of the German names in proof impressions of the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death, 331; of Hans Lutzelburger, 351; his Life of Holbein, 372. Heilman, Anthony, his evidence in the suit of the Drytzehns against Gutemberg, 1438, 128. Heineken, Charles, Baron Von, his disbelief of Papillon’s story of the Cunio, 27; his opinion that cards were invented in Germany, 40; his notice of the old wood-cut of St. Christopher, 46; of the History of the Virgin, 68; of the Apocalypse, 80; of the Poor Preacher’s Bible, 82, 94; of the Speculum Salvationis, 100; his erroneous account of a Dutch wood-cut, by _Phillery_ [Willem] de figuersnider, 309. Helgen, or Helglein, figures of Saints, 45. Henderson, Dr. his History of Wines, with Illustrations, by W. Harvey, 530. Henry VIII. his signature stamped, 14. Heures a l’Usaige de Chartres, printed by S. Vostre, 1502, 232. Hicks, G. E. painter, 598*. Hieroglyphic sonnet, 396; Bible, 478. Highland Society, diploma of, 523. Historiarum Veteris Testamenti Icones, or Bible-cuts, designed by Holbein, 365-371. Histories, the Four, dated 1462, 172-175. History of the Virgin, an ancient block-book, 68-80. Hodgson, Solomon, printer of the first four editions of Bewick’s Quadrupeds, 488. Hodgson, T. the engraver of a cut in Sir John Hawkins’s History of Music, 1776, 471. Hogarth, cut from projected edition of, 544; sketch from, 594. Hogenberg, R. portrait of Archbishop Parker engraved by, 1572, 422. Holbein, Hans, the designer of the cuts in the Dance of Death printed at Lyons, 371; his birth, _ib._; his marriage, 372; how employed at Basle, 373; visits England, _ib._; revisits Basle, 376; his death, 378; his satirical drawings, 378 _n_; his Alphabet, 352. Hole, Henry, a pupil of Bewick, 492 _n_. Holl, Leonard, printer of Ulm, his edition of Ptolemy, 1483, 199. Hollar, W. his etchings of the Dance of Death, 337. Holzschneider, 2. Horace, his well-stored wine, 9. Horne, Rev. T. H. probably incorrect with respect to a date, 60. Horsley, J. C. artist, 591*, 598*. Hortus Sanitatis, 1491, 210. Householder, the Good, 438. Howel’s Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ, with wood-cuts, 1712, 446. Hughes, Hugh, his Beauties of Cambria, 538-548. Hughes, William, wood-engraver, 538. Hudibras, 1819, cut from, 543. Hulme, F. W. draughtsman, 599*. Humanæ Vitæ Imago, 436 _n_. Humphreys, Noel, draughtsman, 599*. Hunt, W. Holman, painter, 598*. Hunting and Hawking, Book of, printed at St. Alban’s, 1486, and at Westminster in 1496, 195. Hutton’s Mensuration, with diagrams engraved by Bewick, 1768-1770, 475. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 218, 220, 224.

I.

Images of the Old Testament, with cuts, designed by Holbein, 365-370. Impressions from wood and from copper, the difference in the mode of taking, 4. Initial letters, flowered, 191, 429. Insanity of engravers, 458 _n_. Inscriptions on bells, 20. Intaglio engraving on wood, so that the outlines appear white upon black, 225, 482, 618, 619.

J.

Jackson, John, wood-engraver, 545. Jackson, John Baptist, an English wood engraver, perhaps a pupil of Kirkall, 453; Papillon’s notice of him, 454; engraves several chiaro-scuros at Venice, 455; establishes a manufactory for paper-hangings at Battersea, and publishes an essay on chiaro-scuro engraving, 455-457. Jackson, John, 545. Jackson, Mason, wood-engraver, 589*, 600*. Jacob blessing the children of Joseph, 596, 597. Janszoon, Lawrence, supposed to be the same person as Lawrence Coster, 162. Javelin-headed characters, 7. Jean-le-Robert, his Journal, 122. Jegher, Christopher, wood engravings by, from drawings by Rubens, 437. Jettons, or counters, 19. Jewitt, Orlando, draughtsman and wood-engraver, 584*-587*. John, St. old wood-cuts of, 60. Johnson, John, a pupil of Bewick, 517 _n_. Johnson, Robert, a pupil of Bewick’s, list of tail-pieces in the British Birds designed by, 497; notice of his life, 516. Jones, Owen, draughtsman, 599*. Journal, Albert Durer’s, of his visit to Flanders, 260. Judith, with the head of Holofernes, 440. Junius, Hadrian, claims the invention of printing for Lawrence Coster, 147-150.

K.

Kartenmachers in Germany, in the fifteenth century, 43. Keene, Charles, draughtsman, 599*. Killing the black, a technical term in wood engraving, explained, 232. Kirchner, --, wood-engraver, 563*. Kirkall, E. copper-plate frontispiece to Howel’s Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ, engraved by, 1712, 447; chiaro-scuros engraved by, 451; copper-plates engraved by, in Rowe’s translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia, and other works, 452. Klauber, H. H., repainted the Dance of Death in the church-court of the Dominicans, at Basle, 327. Knight, R. Payne, his bequest of a piece of sculpture, by A. Durer, to the British Museum, 258. Knight, C. his patent illuminated prints and maps, 630. Koburger, Anthony, printer of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493, 212. Koning, J. a modern advocate of Coster’s invention, 154. Krismer, librarian of the Convent of Buxheim, 49 _n_. Kunig, der Weiss, the title of a work, with wood-cuts, chiefly written by the Emperor Maximilian, 286, 483; summary of its contents, _ib._ Kupfer-stecher, 2. Küttner, K. G. his opinion of Sir Theurdank, 282. Kyloe Ox, by Bewick, 485 _n_.

L.

Ladenspelder, Hans, 355. Laer, W. Rolewinck de, his Fasciculus Temporum, with wood-cuts, 1474, 190. Lamp, the engraver’s, 575. Landells, Ebenezer, wood-engraver, 544. Landseer, Mr. Edwin, on vignettes, 615. Landseer, Mr. John, his theory of vegetable putties, 72; his observations on the term colour, as applied to engravings, 213. Laocoon, burlesque of the, by Titian, 435. Lapis, Dominico de, printer of Bologna, his edition of Ptolemy, with an erroneous date, 201. Lar, the word on a Roman stamp, 8. Lawless, M. J. draughtsman, 599*. Lee, James, wood-engraver, 593*. Lee, John, wood-engraver, 534. Leech, John, artist, 580*, 581*. Leglenweiss, the word explained, 44. Legrand, J. G. his translation of the Hypnerotomachia, 219. Lehne, F. his observations on a passage in the Cologne Chronicle, 122 _n_; his Chronology of the Harlem Fiction, 155; his remarks on Koning, 157. Leicester, Robert Earl of, his portrait in Archbishop Parker’s edition of the Bible, 1568, 419. Leighton, John, artist, 582*. Leighton, Henry, wood-engraver, 582*. Le Jeune, H. painter, 598*. Leland, John, his Næniæ, 1542, contains a portrait, engraved on wood, of Sir Thomas Wyatt, 379. Le Sueurs, French wood-engravers, 443, 467. Letania Lauretana, with wood-cuts, Valencia, 1768, 469. Lettere Cifrate, 395. Leyden, Lucas van, visited by Durer, 269; his engravings, 308. Lhuyd, Humphrey, erroneously described by Walpole as an engraver, 420. Libripagus, a definition of the word, by Paul of Prague, 182. Lignamine, P. de, in his Chronicle, 1474, mentions Gutemberg and Faust, as printers, at Mentz in 1458, 140. Linton, W. J. wood-engraver, 544, 590*, 591*. Lobel and Pena’s Stirpium Adversaria, with copper-plate title-page, London, 1570, 423. Lodewyc von Vaelbeke, a fidler, supposed to have been the inventor of printing, 119. Logography, 417. Lorenzo, Nicolo, books containing copper-plates printed by him, 1477-1481, 202. Lorich, Melchior, 408. Loudon’s Arboretum, with cuts printed from casts of etchings, by Branston, 634. Loudon, J. wood-engraver, 600*. Lowering, the practice of, no recent invention, 465. Lowering, concave, 618. Lowering, advantages of, 624. Lowering, complicated, 625. Lowering, the difference between cylindrical rollers and the common press, so far as relates to, 640 _n_. Lucas van Leyden, 308. Lucchesini, an Italian wood-engraver, about 1770, 469. Luther, Martin, his cause espoused by Durer, 265; caricature portraits of, 267. Lutzelburger, Hans, a wood-engraver, 351. Lydgate, John, mentions vignettes in his Troy Book, 616. Lysons, Mr. Samuel, letter from, to Sir George Beaumont, 108.

M.

Mabillon, 14. Machabre, The Dance of, 325-329. Maclise, D. artist, 568*, 569*. Macquoid, T. draughtsman, 599*. Mair, an engraver, a supposed chiaro-scuro by, 1499, 231. McIan, R. R. artist, 588*, 590*. Maittaire’s Latin Classics, wood-cut ornaments in, 1713, 448. Mallinkrot, his translation of a passage in the Cologne Chronicle, 123. Mander, C. Van, ascribes the Lyons Dance of Death to Holbein, 365. Mantegna, Andrea, wood-cuts of the Hypnerotomachia ascribed to, 219. Manung, widder die Durken, an early specimen of typography, 138. Map engraved on wood, specimen of a, 612. Maps engraved on wood and on copper, the earliest, 199; names of places in, printed in type, 1511, 203; printed in colours, 1538, 204; improvements in engraving, _ib._; printed in separate pieces, with types, 1776, 205; improvements in printing, 417; early, on copper, published in England, 419; Knight’s patent illuminated, 630. Marcolini, F. wood-cuts in his Sorti, 1540, 389, 391. Marks, double, on wood-cuts, 350. Marshall, J. R. wood engraver, 596*. Martin, John, artist, 545, 546, 547, 590*. Martin, J. wood-engraver, 544. Mary de Medici, her portrait mistaken by Papillon and Fournier for a specimen of her own engraving on wood, 461. Masters, little, 320 _n_. Matsys, Quintin, entertains Durer, 261. Maude, Thomas, extract from his poem of the School Boy, 473. Maugerard, M. copy of an early edition of the Bible discovered by, 139. Maximilian the First, Emperor of Germany, his triumphal car and arch, designed by Durer, 255; the Adventures of Sir Theurdank, the joint composition of himself and his secretary, 282-285; works celebrating his actions,--The Wise King, 286; the Triumphal Procession, 288, 289. Mazarine Bible, 139 _n_. Meadows, Kenny, artist, 597*. Measom, Geo. wood engraver, 575*. Mechel, Christian von, of Basle, his engravings after Holbein, 350. Medals, 320. Meditationes Joannis de Turrecremata, 184. Meerman, G. his disbelief of the story of Coster’s invention, 154; and his subsequent attempts to establish its credibility, 155. Mentelin, John, printer, of Strasburg, formerly an illuminator, 121. Mentonnière, 465, 574. Merchants’-marks, 17. Metallic relief engraving, erroneous statements about, 305; Blake’s metallic relief engraving, 632; portrait thus executed by Lizars, 633; Woone’s, 634; Schonberg’s, _ib._; Branston’s, _ib._; Hancock’s patent, 635; Sly’s experiments, 636; Messrs. Best, Andrew, and Leloir, _ib._ Meydenbach, John, said to have been one of Gutemberg’s assistants, 166. Meydenbach, Jacobus, printer of the Hortus Sanitatis, 1491, 210. Millais, J. E. painter, 598*. Mints, provincial, for coining money, 19. Mirror of Human Salvation, 95. Mirror of the World, printed by Caxton, 194. Missale Herbipolense, with a copper-plate engraving, 1481, 201. Moffet’s Theatre of Insects, 442. Monogram, 13, 15. Montagna, Benedetto, wood-cuts of the Hypnerotomachia ascribed to him, 220. Monte Sancto di Dio, an early book, containing copper-plates, 1477, 202. Monumental brasses, 21. More, Sir Thomas, 375. Morgan, M. S. draughtsman, 599*. Morland, sketch from, 592. Mort, les Simulachres de la, Lyons, 1538, 328. Mosses, Thomas, wood engraver, 544. Mulready, W. painter, 598*. Munster, Sebastian, his Cosmography, 413; his letters to Joachim Vadianus about an improvement in the mode of printing maps, 417. Murr, C. G. Von, references to his Journal of Art, and other works, 2, 9, 42, 47, 49, 51, 56, 74, 227, 236, 237, 241, 242, 257, 260, 262, 264, 267, 273, 281, 283, 289, 291.

N.

Names of wood engravers at the back of the original blocks of the Triumphs of Maximilian, 292. Naming of John the Baptist, a piece of sculpture by A. Durer, 259. Nash, J. painter, 599*. Nesbit, Charlton, a pupil of Bewick, notice of some of his principal cuts, 519-521. Neudörffer, his account of Jerome Resch, a wood engraver, contemporary with Durer, 236. Nicholson, Isaac, a pupil of Bewick, 527. Northcote, James, his mode of composing the cuttings for his Fables, 529 _n_. Notarial stamps, 17. Nummi bracteati, 16. Nuremberg Chronicle, 212.

O.

Oberlin, J. J. Essai d’Annales de la Vie de Gutenberg, 125, 130, 136, 138, 140, 143. Odes, two, by Lloyd and Colman, with wood-cuts, 1760, 470. Ortelius, Abraham, his collection of maps, engraved on copper, 1570, 419. Ortus Sanitatis, 211. Ottley, W. Y. adopts Papillon’s story of the Cunio, 419; his advocacy of Coster’s pretensions, 160; ascribes the introduction of cross-hatching to M. Wolgemuth, 239; and the designs of the cuts in the Hypnerotomachia to Benedetto Montagna, 220. Outline, in wood engraving, the difference between the white and the true, 587; engravings in, 590. Overlaying wood-cuts, mode of, 613, 645. Ovid’s Metamorphoses, printed at Venice, 1497, 217. Ovingham, the parsonage at, 473; the church, 512. Oxford Sausage, with wood-cuts, 1764, 470.

P.

Packhouse’s machine for tints, 584 _n_. Palatino, G. B. his work on Penmanship, 395. Palmer, W. J. wood-engraver, 557. Paper, proper for printing wood-cuts, 646; India paper, injurious to wood-cuts, _ib._ Paper-mark in an old book of wood-cuts, 107. Paper money, early, 25 _n_. Papillon, John, the elder, 443. Papillon, John Michael, his story of the Cunio, 26; his character, 35; notice of his works, 457-467. Parafe, or ruche, 14. Parker, Archbishop, his portrait, engraved by R. Hogenberg, 1572, 422. Parkinson’s Paradisus Terrestris, 442. Parmegiano, chiaro-scuros after his designs, 403. Pasti, Matteo, supposed to have designed the cuts in Valturius de Re Militari, 1472, 186. Patin’s Life of Holbein, 372. Patroner, the word explained, 330 _n_. Paul of Prague, his definition of “libripagus,” 182. Pearson, G. wood engraver, 573*, 574*. Pepyr, Edmund, his mark, 18. Peringskiold, 14. Petit-Jehan de Saintré, Chronicle of, 41. Petrarch’s Sonnets, Lyons, 1545, cuts in, 400. Petronius, 8, 15. Pfintzing, Melchior, joint author of Sir Theurdank, 282. Pfister, Albert, works printed by, at Bamberg in 1461 and 1462, 170, 181. Phillery, properly Willem, de figursnider, mistakes about a cut of his engraving, 310. Phiz (H. K. Browne), draughtsman, 599*. Piccard, T. Nieuhoff, an unknown discoverer of a painting of the Dance of Death, by Holbein, 360, 363. Pickersgill, F. R. painter, 599*. Pictura, a wood-cut sometimes called, 357. Pilgrim, John Ulric, cuts ascribed to, 317. Pinkerton, John, his statement that several of the cuts in Bewick’s Quadrupeds were drawn on the block by R. Johnson, 491 _n_. Pinx. et Scalp. not to be found on early wood-cuts, 35. Pirkheimer, Bilibald, letters written to him by Albert Durer, 242; his letter to J. Tscherte, announcing Durer’s death, 273. Pittacia, small labels, 8 _n_. Playing cards, 40. Plebanus, a curate or vicar, 61 _n_. Pleydenwurff, William, with M. Wolgemuth, superintends the cuts of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1491, 212. Ploughman, Pierce, his Creed, 18. Plug, mode of inserting in an engraved wood-block, 549. Poetry, specimen of Durer’s, 260; specimens of Clennell’s, when insane, 526. Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, 218, 220, 224. Polo, Marco, 25. Poor Preacher’s Bible, 80-94, 175-179. Portraits of Bewick, list of the principal, 509. Powis, W. H. wood engraver, 544. Prayer-book, Queen Elizabeth’s, 1569, 427. Prenters of Antwerp in 1442, 121. Press made for Gutemberg previous to 1438, 127. Press, rolling, for copper-plate printing, 4. Press, steam, wood-cuts printed by, 644. Preusch, his attempt to print maps by a typometric process, 205. Printing, Gutemberg occupied with the invention of, in 1436, 127. Printing in colours, a figure of Christ, with the date 1543, 403; Savage’s decorative printing, 629; G. Baxter’s improvements, 629; C. Knight’s patent illuminated prints and maps, 630. Printing wood-cuts, best mode of, 640. Priority of editions of the Speculum Salvationis, 100. Procession, triumphal, of Maximilian, 288, 289. Procopius, 13. Proofs of wood engravings, mode of unfairly taking, 466, 603. Prout, J. S. draughtsman, 599*. Psalter, printed by Faust and Scheffer in 1457, 164. Ptolemy’s Cosmography, with maps, engraved on wood, 1483, 199; an edition printed by Dominico de Lapis, at Bologna, 201; at Venice, by J. Pentius de Leucho, 1511, 203.

Q.

Quadrin’s Historiques de la Bible, 402. Quadrupeds, History of, with cuts, by Bewick, 1791, 482-490. Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer-book, 427. Quintilian, his notice of the manner of boys learning to write by tracing the letters through a stencil, 12.

R.

Raffaele, designs for the wood-cuts of the Hypnerotomachia ascribed to him, 219; a wood-cut after a drawing by, in Marcolini’s Sorti, 389. Rahmenschneiders, or border-cutters, 190, 319. Raidel, his Dissertation on an edition of Ptolemy, 201; dates, erroneous in books, _ib._ Raimbach, Abraham, his engraving of the Rent-day, after Sir D. Wilkie, 213. Randell, a printer’s apprentice, wood-cuts by, 180. Raynalde’s Birth of Mankind, with three copper-plate engravings, 1540, 421. Read, S. draughtsman, 599*. Rebus, or “name devises,” 398. Redgrave, R. painter, 599*. Relief, metallic, engraving in, erroneous statements about, 305; practised by Blake and others, 632-636. Rembrandt, cuts copied from etchings by, 595, 599, 602, 605. Renaudot, l’Abbé, 24. Rent-day, engraving of a group from, after Sir D. Wilkie, 593. Repairing wood-cuts, 569 _n_. Reperdius, George, a painter praised by Nicholas Bourbon, 356. Requeno’s Chirotipografia, 44 _n_. Revelationes Cœlestes sanctæ Brigittæ de Suecia, 321. Reynolds, Nicholas, an English engraver on copper, 1575, 420. Reyser, George, printer of the Missale Herbipolense, 1481, 202. Roberts, David, painter, 599*. Robin Hood’s Garland, with wood-cut on the title-page, 1670, 444, 445. Rocca, Angelus, mentions a Donatus on parchment, 123 _n_. Rogers, Harry, draughtsman, 599*. Rogers, William, an English copper-plate engraver, about 1600, 423. Rolling-press, 4. Rollers, composition, not so good as composition balls for inking certain kinds of wood-cuts, 650. Roman stamps, 8, 10. Rotundity, how indicated by straight lines, 584. Rouen Cathedral, 611. Rubbing down, 389. Rubens. P. P. his praise of the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death, designed by Holbein, 365; wood engravings from his designs, 438, 439. Ruche, or parafe, 14. Runic cyphers and monograms, 15. Ryther, Augustine, an English engraver on copper, 1575, 420.

S.

Sachs, Hans, his descriptions of cuts designed by Jost Amman, 408. Salmincio, Andrea, wood-cuts ascribed to, 441. Sandbag and block, 575. Sandrart, J. his notice of the Dance of Death, with cuts designed by Holbein, 365. Saspach, Conrad, his evidence in the Drytzehns’ suit against Gutemberg, 1438, 128. Savage, W. chiaro-scuros in his hints on Decorative Printing, 629; his opinion as to the best mode of working a form containing wood-cuts, 647. Saxton, Christopher, his collection of English County Maps, engraved on copper, 1573-1579, 420. Schapf, George, an early wood engraver, 142, 228. Schäufflein, Hans, painter, generally supposed to have engraved on wood, 281, 283, 284, 285, 287. Schedel, Hartman, compiler of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493, 212. Scheffer, Peter, a partner of Gutemberg and Faust, 132; mentioned by Faust as his servant, 133; a clerk, or copyist of books, 167. Schelhorn’s Amœnitates, 113. Schœpflin, Vindiciæ Typographicæ, 125, 132. Schön, Martin, 74, 238. Schön, Erhard, 406. Schonberg, Mr. his attempts to engrave in metallic relief, 634. Schönsperger, Hans, the printer of Sir Theurdank, 282. Schopper, Hartman, verses by, in a book of trades and professions, 409. Schoting of Nuremberg, a cut thus inscribed, the date 1584, mistaken for 1384, 59. Schultheis, Hans, his evidence in the Drytzehns’ suit against Gutemberg, 1438, 127. Schussler, John, a printer of Augsburg, 180. Schwartz, J. G. Documenta de Origine Typographiæ, 124, 133, 134, 142. Scopoli, mistakes Mr. B. White’s sign for the name of his partner, 313. Scott, T. D. draughtsman, 599*. Scrive, a tool to mark timber with, 2. Scrivener and Greffier, 2 _n_. Scriverius, his account of Coster’s invention, 151 _n_. Seals, engraved, 20. Sebastian, St. account of an old wood-cut of, 55. Selous, H. C. painter, 599*. Shade for the eyes, 575. Shaw, Henry, draughtsman, 599*. Shields of arms in the block-book called The Apocalypse, 65; in the History of the Virgin, 75, 76, 77, 78. Sichem, Cornelius van, wood engraver, 439. Silberrad, Dr. old wood-cuts in the possession of, 227. Simulachres et Historiées Faces de la Mort, Lyons, 1538, 328. Singer’s Researches on the History of Playing Cards, 9; his unacknowledged obligations to Breitkopf, 10. Skelton, Percival, 550, 569*. Skippe, John, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 628. Slader, Samuel, wood engraver, 544. Sly, Stephen, his experiments in metallic relief, 636. Smith, John Orrin, wood engraver, 544. Smith, Orrin. wood engraver, 580*. Smyth, F. G. wood-engraver, 600*. Snuff-box, George the Fourth’s, with designs, by Flaxman, 590. Solis, Virgil, 406. Solomon, song of, illustrations, 71, 72. Solomon, A. painter, 599*. Solomon, Bernard, of Lyons, 398-401, 407. Somervile’s Chase, with cuts, designed by John Bewick, 513. Sonetto figurato, 395-397. Sorg, Anthony, of Augsburg, account of the Council of Constance, with wood-cuts, printed by him in 1483, 189. Sorti, Marcolini’s, a work containing wood-cuts, 389-393. Southey, Robert, his notice of two odes by Lloyd and Colman, with wood-cuts, 470. Spanish marks, 15. Specklin, D. mentions wooden types, 131. Speculum Nostræ Salutis, 149. Speculum Salvationis, a misnamed block-book, 95-106; cuts from, 96, 97, 98. Speed’s History of Britain, 442. Sporer, Hans, an old briefmaler, 43. Springinklee, Hans, 287, 320. Stabius, J. his description of the triumphal arch of Maximilian, 256. Stamham, Melchior de, Abbot of St. Ulric and Afra, at Augsburg, printing-presses bought by him, 165 _n_. Stampien, to stamp with the foot as a fiddler beats time, mistaken for printing, 120. Stamping of letters in manuscripts, 44. Stampilla, 14. Stamps, Roman, 8; notarial, 17. Stanfield, Clarkson, R.A. 570*. Steiner, J. M. his notice of a book printed at Bamberg in 1462, 170. Stencilling, 12, 40 _n_. Stephenson, James, draughtsman, 599*. Stereotype, early, 418; modern, 636. Stigmata, 12. Stimmer, Christopher, and Tobias, 413. Stocks, Lumb, draughtsman, 599*. Stoke-field, knights and bannerets created after the battle of, 191. Stonehouse, artist, 591*. Stothard, Thomas, R.A. his Illustrations of Rogers’s Poems, 1812, engraved on wood, 524. Strephon’s Revenge, 1724, copy of a tail-piece in, 453. Sueur, le, Peter and Vincent, 443; Nicholas, 467. Sulman, T. draughtsman, 599*. Swain, John, wood engraver, 579*, 581*. Swain, Joseph, wood-engraver, 600*. Swedish coins, 15. Sweynheim, Conrad, printer, the first that devised maps engraved on copper, 200. Switzer, cuts engraved by, 442. Sylvius, Æneas, his account of the Barnacle or Tree goose, 415.

T.

Tail-pieces in Bewick’s Quadrupeds, 486. Tell, William, 416, 417. Temple, W. W. a pupil of Bewick, 527. Tenniel, John, artist, 559, 560. Terms, abstract, derived from names expressive of tangible and visible things, 214. Terra-cottas, called Typi, 7. Testament, Figures du Nouveau, 402. Theodoric, his monogram, 13. Ther-Hoernen, Arnold, prints at Cologne an edition of the Fasciculus Temporum, with wood-cuts, 1474, 190. Theurdank, the Adventures of, an allegorical poem, by the Emperor Maximilian and his Secretary, 281; the text erroneously supposed to have been engraved on wood, 283. Thomas, G. H. artist, 565*-567*. Thomas, W. L. wood engraver, 565*, 568*. Thompson, Charles, wood engraver, 541 _n_. Thompson, Eliza, wood engraver, 541 _n_. Thompson, John, wood engraver, a pupil of R. Branston, notice of some of his principal cuts, 541, 569*. Thurston, John, designer on wood, 519 _n_. Tindale, William, cuts in his translation of the New Testament, 1534, 383-385. Tinsel money, 16. Tints, mode of cutting, 577-581. Tint-tools, 577. Titian, wood-cuts after, 433, 435. Tools, wood engravers’, 576-530. Topham, F. W. draughtsman, 599*. Topsell’s History of Four-footed Beasts, 442. Tract printed by A. Pfister, at Bamberg, 1461, 1462, 170, 181. Transferring old impressions of wood-cuts, 104 _n_; old wood-cuts and copper-plates, 637. Travelling printers, 184. Tree goose, 414. Treitzsaurwein. M. Secretary to the Emperor Maximilian, nominal author of the Weiss Kunig, 286. Treschel, Melchior and Gaspar, printers of the Lyons Dance of Death, 1538, with cuts, designed by Hans Holbein, 330. Trimming, 606. Triompho di Fortuna, 315-317. Trithemius, his account of the invention of printing, 131. Triumphal procession, usually called the Triumphs of Maximilian, 288-304. Trusler, Dr. his Progress of Man and Society, with cuts, by John Bewick, 613. Turner, Dr. William, his account of the Tree goose, 414. Turner, the Rev. William, his opinion of cross-hatching, 562. Turrecremata, J. de, his Meditationes, 184. Typi, 7. Typography, invention of, 118; not a chance discovery, 145.

U.

Ulphilas, Gospels of, 44. Underlaying wood-cuts, mode of, 645 _n_. Unger, father and son, German wood engravers, 1779, 403, 483, 545. Urse Graff, a cut designed by, probably copied by Willem de Figuersnider, 313; other cuts with his mark, 314.

V.

Vagabonds and sturdy beggars, 12. Valcebro, Ferrer de, his notice of the Bernacle or Tree goose, 416. Valturius, R. de Re Militari, 186. Vasari, George, claims the invention of chiaro-scuro engraving for Ugo da Cai, 230. Vasey, George, wood engraver, 544. Vaugris, V. printer of a piracy of the Lyons Dance of Death, at Venice, 1542, 393. Vecellio, Cesare, his book of Costumes, Venice, 1589, 433. Vegetable putties, a theory of Mr. J. Landseer, 72. Veldener, John, printer of an edition of the Speculum Salvationis, 1483, 106; one of the earliest printers who introduced ornamental borders engraved on wood, 191. Venice, foreign cards prohibited to be brought into the city of, 1441, 43. Verona, Johannes de, 186. Vesalius’s Anatomy, Basle, 1548, erroneously said to contain cuts designed by Titian, 433. Vignettes, 615. Vincentini, J. N. engraver of chiaro-scuros, 389. Vizetelly, H. wood engraver, 558, 570*, 571*. Vostre, Simon, Heures printed by him, 232.

W.

Waagen, Dr. G. F. extract from his evidence before the Committee on Arts and Manufactures, 322. Walsokne, Adam de, his mark, 18. Walton’s Angler, cuts of fish in Major’s edition of, 541, 543. Wand-Kalendars, or sheet almanacks, 1470, 1500, 225. Ward, James, R.A. cut of a dray-horse from a drawing by, 596. Warren, H. painter, 599*. Watson. J. D. draughtsman, 599*. Watts, S. his engravings, 1703, 471. Waved lines, 583. Webster, T. painter, 599*. Wehnert, G. H. artist, 594*. Weir, Harrison, artist, 551, 555. Weiss-Kunig, 286. West, Benjamin, his design for the diploma of the Highland Society, 523. Wethemstede, John, prior of St. Albans, 111. White, Henry, senior and junior, wood engravers, 544. White outline, 587, 598. Whitehall, fictions about a Dance of Death painted by Holbein in the old palace at, 360-363. Whiting, Chas. his colour-printing, 630. Whymper, J. W. wood engraver, 544, 569*. Wilkie, Sir David, R.A. his sketch for his picture of the Rabbit on the Wall, 591; group from his Rent-day, 593; from his Village Festival, 614. Willett, R. his opinion of wooden types, 136. Williams, J. wood engraver, 588*. Williams, Samuel, artist and wood engraver, 544, 572*. Williams, Thomas, wood engraver, 544, 547. Willis, Edward, a pupil of Bewick, 522 _n_. Wimperis, E. wood-engraver, 600*. Wimpheling, verses by him, celebrating Gutemberg as the inventor of printing, 155. Wirtemberg, Counts of, their arms, 78. Wolf, J. artist, 573*, 574*. Wolgemuth, Michael, not the first that introduced cross-hatching in wood engravings, 239. Women, engravers on wood, 235. Wood for the purposes of engraving, several kinds mentioned by Papillou, 464; mode of preparing, 562-568. Wood-cut, the earliest known with a date, 45. Wood-cuts, largest modern; directions for cleaning, 649. Wood engravers, early, unfriendly to the progress of typography, 179. Wooden types, 131, 136, 137. Woods, H. N. wood-engraver, 600*. Wootie, Mr. his patent for engraving in metallic relief, 634. Worde. W. de, cuts in books printed by him, 196, 198. Wordsworth, William, his high opinion of Bewick’s talents, 512. Wright, John, wood engraver, 544. Wright, W. wood engraver, 554. Wyatt, Sir Thomas, a wood-cut portrait of, from a drawing, by Holbein, 379. Wyburd, F. painter, 599*.

Z.

Zainner, Gunther, of Augsburg, 179; the Legenda Aurea, with wood-cuts, printed by him, in 1471, 188. Zainer, John, of Reutlingen, prints at Ulm in 1473, an edition of Boccacio de Claris Mulieribus, with wood-cuts, 190. Zani’s arguments in favour of Papillon’s story of the Cunio, 36, 37. Zerlegen, a word used by German printers to denote the _distribution_ of the types, occurs in connection with Gutemberg’s press in 1438, 128. Zuyren, J. Van, claims the invention of printing for Harlem, 146. Zwecker, John B. draughtsman, 599*.

THE END.

LONDON: PRINTED BY R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, BREAD STREET HILL.

Errors and Inconsistencies (noted by transcriber)

Inconsistent spellings were only regularized when there was a strong preponderance; changes are individually noted. The various spellings of the name now written “Shakespeare” are unchanged, as are the forms “Albert Durer” and “Gutemberg”. German citations consistently omit the period (full stop) in references such as “2 Theil”. Other unchanged forms include:

cross line : cross-line figuersnider : figursnider fore-/back-ground : fore/background type-founder : typefounder wood-cut : woodcut wood-engraver : wood engraver Schaufflein : Schäufflein

In the Index, missing or inconsistent punctuation was silently regularized.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS life of St. Birinus, of the twelfth century [twelth]