Wood-engraving

Abstract

During the last twenty years, it will have been observed how great has been the increase of works containing wood-engravings either for the purpose of illustration or embellishment. In the present sheet are several of this species of wood-cuts or engravings, and few publications of a cheap class are now issued without them. Usually less delicate and minute than engravings on copper or steel, wood-cuts possess a peculiar value, from the comparative ease with which they can be printed. While plate embellishments require to be produced by a process so tedious, that a man can with difficulty execute 250 impressions in a day, a wood-engraving can be printed with great rapidity by a machine to the extent of many thousands daily. The chief value of the wood-cut, however, consists in its being adapted for printing along with letterpress. It is inserted among the types by the compositor, and impressions come from it along with the letterpress which it is intended to illustrate. Hence, a wood-cut is to be described as a type-a thing which produces representations by being stamped on paper, after having been inked for the purpose. The reason why wood-engravings possess these qualities over metal plates is, because the figures or marks to be shown in print are left raised on the wood, the parts not to be printed being cut away, This is the reverse of the principle of metal-plate engraving, in which the figures or marks are sunk, and hence the difficulty of effecting impressions with any degree of rapidity... [Excerpt]