Ex Libris engraved on wood by Bewick, reproduced by process block.
Wood engraving for pictorial work may be divided into two kinds:—
I.—Black-Line or Fac-simile Work.—The drawing on wood is engraved exactly as it is drawn, line for line. All examples up to the time of Bewick, and a great many since, are of this kind. As illustrating the best qualities of this style of wood engraving, no more apt examples could be named than the cartoons and drawings in Punch by Tenniel, Doyle, Leech, and others, before the introduction of photo-etched process blocks. (Bewick himself, an artist as well as an engraver, made a departure from the old crude manner of wood engraving by introducing a new style of work, imitating more truly the local colour and the textures of nature: drawing the subject of the design on wood in pencil and afterwards tinting in the masses of shade and local colour with washes of china ink; and with the graver giving all the characteristic markings and minuter details by white lines upon the dark ground. In his Natural History Cuts he imitated in the most marvellous manner the textures of trees, grass, and natural scenery, the plumage of birds, the shaggy or smooth coats of animals, etc. A number of Ex Libris executed by him on wood have the same characteristic handling). The [two wood engravings by Bewick] are reproduced by process blocks. Though inferior to many of his Natural History Cuts, they fairly show the style and character of his handiwork—the careful execution of details and the use of white-line work upon solid black ground.
(From the Collection of W. H. K. Wright, Esq.).
Wood Engraving by Bewick.
II.—Tinted Work.—In this mode the subject is drawn in TINTS OR WASHES, and partly with the pencil. To be successful in work of this kind, to interpret the artist’s ideas truly, the engraver must himself be an artist of considerable ability, as he has to adapt the lines to the work, and in this lies rare judgment and discretion, as not only the direction of the line most conducive to develop the form, but the width and thickness of the lines and spaces must be accurately judged; the various qualities of surfaces must likewise be suggested by the engraved lines.
MATERIALS AND MODE OF PROCEEDING.
The wood used by engravers is boxwood, on account of its close grain and firm texture; it is principally imported from Turkey, cut transversely or across the grain (so that the engraving is done upon the end way of the wood). It is made seven-eighths of an inch in thickness (type height). It takes a beautifully smooth surface, and cuts under the graver with the utmost clearness and fineness. The polished surface of the wood being unsuitable for drawing on, a slight “tooth” is given to it by a little water-colour white rubbed over the face of the block with the ball of the thumb until nearly dry, when it presents a pleasant surface for the pencil.