EARLY METHOD OF ENGRAVING ON THE SIDE
OF THE WOOD WITH KNIVES.
In early days of wood engraving a close-grained slab of wood of a suitable thickness to print with type was used for the purpose by the engraver—cut the long way of the tree, and not upon the end or section of the wood as in modern work; and the cutting was necessarily executed with the knife. The quaint and rude cut on the accompanying double page is a fair example of the earliest species of woodcut, and is the most ancient Ex Libris known.
Regarding the knife as a cutting instrument, Mr. W. J. Linton, in his “Manual of Wood Engraving,” p. 28, says: “As far as I have been able to ascertain, with the one possible exception of the cuts to Croxall’s Fables, 1722, all engravings on wood from the earliest time to the time of Bewick were done with the knife instead of gravers.”
Rude Early Woodcut. (Actual size.)
The most ancient Ex Libris known. It is Jean Knabensberg, called Igler, chaplain to the family of Schönstett. It represents a hedgehog with a flower in its mouth. In the banderole we read, “Hanns Igler das dich ein Igel Kuss.” Its approximate date is 1450. Herr Ludwig Rosenthal, antiquariat, Munich, has a copy of this rare plate in his possession, which he values at 600 marks. See Warnecke’s “Die deutschen Bücherzeichen” (Ex Libris), 1890.
