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172 THE HISTORY OF WOOD-EKGRAVING,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Ny» In Its Ancient And More General Sens...
Before the block is used a little powdered Bath brick , slightly mixed with wateris rubbed over the sufaceand when this thin
coating is perfectly , dry it is removed by rubbin , g the block with the palm of the hand . The object of this is to render the surface less
slippery , and to afford a better hold to the point of the pencil . injured sons Jackson when their lays beg sig particular inning ht by unnecessaril to stress learn on the y the using art fact of a magnif wood that many -engravin ying young glass g before have , per the
result of which has been to impair the sight considerably they are capable of executing anything that really requires much nicety of vision .
The four tools principally used in wood-engraving are—gravers , tint-toolsscoopers , and flat tools or chisels . Each of these four
, kinds are of various sizes . The proper manner of holding the graver is one of the first
things that a young engraver has to learn , and the second is the cutting parallel lines in order to acquire steadiness of hand .
Woodengravers who have not been well schooled in this elementary part of the profession often cut their tints ( i . e . parallel lines ) carelessly in
the first instance , and , when they perceive the defect in a proof , return to their work , and , with great loss of time , keep thinning and
dressing the lines till they frequently make the tint appear worse than at first
. " If an artist be ignorant of the proper management of chiaroscuroand incorrect and feeble in his drawings , he will not be able
to pro , duce a really good design for the wood-engraver . It is from this cause that we have so very few persons who professedly make
designs for wood-engravers , and hence the sameness of character which is to be found in so many modern woodcuts .
" Considering the number of wood-engravings which are yearly executed in this countryit is rather surprising that there should be
so few persons who are cap , able of making a good drawing on wood . Yet it cannot be said that this deficiency arises from any want of
encouragement , for a designer on wood , of even moderate abilities , is better paid for his drawings than a second-rate painter is for his
pictures . The truth is , a taste for correct drawing is not sufficiently cultivated in England ; our artists will be painters before they can
draw ; and hence comparatively few can make a good design on wood . They require the aid of positive colours to deceive the eye ,
and prevent it from resting upon the defects of their drawing / ' * The application of the steam-press to printing lowered woodcuts
may be considered as an epoch in the history of wood-engraving ; and the first woodcuts printed at such a steam-press were in a
book of cattle , with designs by Harvey , printed- by Messrs . Clowes and Sons 1832 ; and though 12000 impressions have already been
printed from , them , they have not , sustained the slightest injury in
* See * Jackson on Wood Engraving . '
172 The History Of Wood-Ekgraving,
172 THE HISTORY OF _WOOD-EKGRAVING ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1858, page 172, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051858/page/28/
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