Contents

• INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION
• WOOD-ENGRAVING PAST AND PRESENT
• WOOD ENGRAVING
• THE WOOD
• DRAWING
• ENGRAVING
• PROOF TAKING
• PREPARING BLOCK FOR PRINTER
• PLUGGING
• APPENDIX

Illustrations

• Wood-cut from The Decameron, Venice, 1492. Re-engraved by R. J. Beedham. By permission of The Shakespeare Head Press
• Alphabet, by Reynolds Stone (By permission of Burns, Gates & Washbourne, Ltd.)
• From Forrest Reid's Apostate, by Reynolds Stone (By permission of Faber & Faber, Ltd.)
• Winter, from a sketch by Verrall, by R. J. Beedham
• Strawberry Picking, by Claire Leighton (By permission of Victor Gollancz)
• March, by Mrs. G. Raverat
• “Miss Jenkyns reading Rasselas,” by Joan Hassall (By permission of George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd.)
• The Cottage, by Robert Gibbings

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION

This book is not a treatise upon the art of wood-engraving. It is simply a description of the tools and materials required by a beginner and the method of using them. It is not intended to assist anyone to become a commercial engraver, for that trade requires a long and specialized training. It is intended rather for those who have occasion or opportunity or inclination to make illustrations or ornaments for books and who are revolted by the degradation to which the art of formal drawing has been brought by photographic “process” reproduction.

The “line” block and the “half-tone” have one clear claim to usefulness: viz. when an exact facsimile is required. It is doubtful, however, whether process reproduction would have been developed very far if its use had been confined to those occasions, and those only, when exact facsimile was of vital importance. Process reproduction owes its success to its commercial possibilities more than to its real merits, for, in spite of the frequently reiterated boast of those engaged in business that nothing can be a commercial success that does not [pg 8] “supply a want,” by photographic reproduction a speed and cheapness have been obtained which have seduced both artists and the public. A “want” has certainly been supplied, but it is a want of quantity rather than of quality, and, as in all cases where quantitative ideas are the motive force, quality has inevitably deteriorated so that book production has become a mere business and with no criterion save that of a commercial success.

It is of course impossible to stem the tide of commercial degradation until Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience take the place of Riches, Pleasure, and Laisser-faire as personal and national ideals. Such a change of heart cannot occur merely as the result of economic or social or philosophical propaganda; the matter is more fundamental than that. The modern world is founded upon a denial of absolute values, a denial of religion, a denial of God; upon such denials nothing can be