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A TREATISE

WOOD ENGRAVING

+Historical and Practical+

BY JOHN JACKSON.

THE HISTORICAL PORTION BY W. A. CHATTO.

+Second Edition+

BY HENRY G. BOHN

And 145 Additional Wood Engravings.

NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The former edition of this History of Wood Engraving having become extremely scarce and commercially valuable, the publisher was glad to obtain the copyright and wood-blocks from Mr. Mason Jackson, son of the late Mr. Jackson, original proprietor of the work, with the view of reprinting it.

In conclusion, I think it due to Mr. Clay to acknowledge the attention and skill which he has exercised in "bringing up" the numerous and somewhat difficult cuts to the agreeable face they now present. A good engraving without good printing is like a diamond without its polish.

HENRY G. BOHN.

MR. JACKSON'S PREFACE.

I feel it my duty to submit to the public a few remarks, introductory to the Preface, which bears the signature of Mr. Chatto.

JOHN JACKSON.

MR. CHATTO'S PREFACE.

Though several English authors have, in modern times, written on the origin and early history of wood engraving, yet no one has hitherto given, in a distinct work, a connected account of its progress from the earliest period to the present time; and no one, however confidently he may have expressed his opinion on the subject, appears to have thought it necessary to make himself acquainted with the practice of the art. The antiquity and early history of wood engraving appear to have been considered as themes which allowed of great scope for speculation, and required no practical knowledge of the art. It is from this cause that we find so many erroneous statements in almost every modern dissertation on wood engraving. Had the writers ever thought of appealing to a person practically acquainted with the art, whose early productions they professed to give some account of, their conjectures might, in many instances, have been spared; and had they, in matters requiring research, taken the pains to examine and judge for themselves, instead of adopting the opinions of others, they would have discovered that a considerable portion of what they thus took on trust, was not in accordance with facts.

As the antiquity and early history of wood engraving form a considerable portion of two expensive works which profess to give some account of the art, it has been thought that such a work as the present, combining the history with the practice of the art, and with numerous cuts illustrative of its progress, decline, and revival, might not be unfavourably received.

In the first chapter an attempt is made to trace the principle of wood engraving from the earliest authentic period; and to prove, by a continuous series of facts, that the art, when first applied to the impression of pictorial subjects on paper, about the beginning of the fifteenth century, was not so much an original invention, as the extension of a principle which had long been known and practically applied.

The second chapter contains an account of the progress of the art as exemplified in the earliest known single cuts, and in the block-books which preceded the invention of typography. In this chapter there is also an account of the Speculum Salvationis, which has been ascribed to Laurence Coster by Hadrian Junius, Scriverius, Meerman, and others, and which has frequently been described as an early block-book executed previous to 1440. A close examination of two Latin editions of the book has, however, convinced me, that in the earliest the text is entirely printed from movable types, and that in the other--supposed by Meerman to be the earliest, and to afford proofs of the progress of Coster's invention--those portions of the text which are printed from wood-blocks have been copied from the corresponding portions of the earlier edition with the text printed entirely from movable types. Fournier was the first who discovered that one of the Latin editions was printed partly from types, and partly from wood-blocks; and the credit of showing, from certain imperfections in the cuts, that this edition was subsequent to the other with the text printed entirely from types, is due to the late Mr. Ottley.

As typography, or printing from movable types, was unquestionably suggested by the earliest block-books with the text engraved on wood, the third chapter is devoted to an examination of the claims of Gutemberg and Coster to the honour of this invention. In the investigation of the evidence which has been produced in the behalf of each, the writer has endeavoured to divest his mind of all bias, and to decide according to facts, without reference to the opinions of either party. He has had no theory to support; and has neither a partiality for Mentz, nor a dislike to Harlem. It perhaps may not be unnecessary to mention here, that the cuts of arms from the History of the Virgin, given at pages 75, 76, and 77, were engraved before the writer had seen Koning's work on the Invention of Printing, Harlem, 1816, where they are also copied, and several of them assigned to Hannau, Burgundy, Brabant, Utrecht, and Leyden, and to certain Flemish noblemen, whose names are not mentioned. It is not improbable that, like the two rash Knights in the fable, we may have seen the shields on opposite sides;--the bearings may be common to states and families, both of Germany and the Netherlands.

The fourth chapter contains an account of wood engraving in connexion with the press, from the establishment of typography to the latter end of the fifteenth century. The fifth chapter comprehends the period in which Albert Durer flourished,--that is, from about 1498 to 1528. The sixth contains a notice of the principal wood-cuts designed by Holbein, with an account of the extension and improvement of the art in the sixteenth century, and of its subsequent decline. In the seventh chapter the history of the art is brought down from the commencement of the eighteenth century to the present time.

The eighth chapter contains an account of the practice of the art, with remarks on metallic relief engraving, and the best mode of printing wood-cuts. As no detailed account of the practice of wood engraving has hitherto been published in England, it is presumed that the information afforded by this part of the Work will not only be interesting to amateurs of the art, but useful to those who are professionally connected with it.

It is but justice to Mr. Jackson to add, that the Work was commenced by him at his sole risk; that most of the subjects are of his selection; and that nearly all of them were engraved, and that a great part of the Work was written, before he thought of applying to a publisher. The credit of commencing the Work, and of illustrating it so profusely, regardless of expense, is unquestionably due to him.

W. A. CHATTO.

Initial letter F, from an old book containing an alphabet of similar letters, engraved on wood, formerly belonging to Sir George Beaumont 40 St. Christopher, with the date 1423, from a cut in the possession of Earl Spencer 46 The Annunciation, from a cut probably of the same period, in the possession of Earl Spencer 50 St. Bridget, from an old cut in the possession of Earl Spencer 52 Shields from the Apocalypse, or History of St. John, an old block-book 65 St. John preaching to the infidels, and baptizing Drusiana, from the same book 66 The death of the Two Witnesses, and the miracles of Antichrist, from the same book 67 Group from the History of the Virgin, an old block-book 71 Copy of a page of the same book 72 Figures and a shield of arms, from the same book 75 Shields of arms, from the same book 76-78 Copy of the first page of the Poor Preachers' Bible, an old block-book 86 Heads from the same book 88 Christ tempted, a fac-simile of one of the compartments in the first page of the same book 89 Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit, from the same book 90 Esau selling his birthright, ditto 91 Heads ditto 92 First cut in the Speculum Salvationis, which has generally, but erroneously, been described as a block-book, as the text in the first edition is printed with types 96 Fall of Lucifer, a fac-simile of one of the compartments of the preceding 97 The Creation of Eve, a fac-simile of the second compartment of the same 98 Paper-mark in the Alphabet of large letters composed of figures, formerly belonging to Sir George Beaumont 107 Letter K, from the same book 109 Letter L, ditto 110 Letter Z, ditto 111 Flowered ornament, ditto 112 Cuts from the Ars Memorandi, an old block-book 115

Initial letter B, from a manuscript life of St. Birinus, of the twelfth century 118 Tail piece-portraits of Gutemberg, Faust, and Scheffer 163

Initial letter C, from Faust and Scheffer's Psalter 164 Apes, from a book of Fables printed at Bamberg by Albert Pfister, 1461 171 Heads, from an edition of the Poor Preachers' Bible, printed by Pfister 177 Christ and his Disciples, from the same 177 Joseph making himself known to his Brethren, from the same 178 The Prodigal Son's return, from the same 178 The Creation of Animals, from Meditationes Joannis de Turrecremata, printed at Rome, 1467 185 A bomb-shell and a man shooting from a kind of hand-gun, from Valturius de Re Militari, printed at Verona, 1472 188 A man shooting from a cross-bow, from the same 189 The Knight, from Caxton's Book of Chess, about 1476 193 The Bishop's pawn, from the same 194 Two figures-- Music, from Caxton's Mirrour of the World, 1480 196 Frontispiece to Breydenbach's Travels, printed at Mentz, 1486 207 Syrian Christians, from the same 209 Old Woman with a basket of eggs on her head, from the Hortus Sanitatis, printed at Mentz, 1491 211 Head of Paris, from the book usually called the Nuremberg Chronicle, printed at Nuremberg, 1493 212 Creation of Eve, from the same 215 The same subject from the Poor Preachers' Bible 216 The difficult Labour of Alcmena, from an Italian translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, 1497 217 Mars, Venus, and Mercury, from Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, printed at Venice, 1499 221 Cupid brought by Mercury before Jove, from the same 222 Cupid and his Victims, from the same 222 Bacchus, from the same 223 Cupid, from the same 224 A Vase, from the same 224 Cat and Mouse, from a supposed old wood-cut printed in Derschau's Collection, 1808-1816 226 Man in armour on horseback, from a wood-cut, formerly used by Mr. George Angus of Newcastle 228 Tail-piece-- the press of Jodocus Badius Ascensianus, from the title-page of a book printed by him about 1498 229

Initial letter T, from a book printed at Paris by Robert Stephens, 1537 324 Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, from a cut designed by Hans Holbein in the Dance of Death, first printed at Lyons in 1538 339 Death's Coat of Arms, from the same work 340 The Old Man, from the same 341 The Duchess, from the same 342 The Child, from the same 343 The Waggoner, from Holbein's Dance of Death 344 Child with a shield and dart, from the same 345 Children with the emblems of a triumph, from the same 346 Holbein's Alphabet of the Dance of Death 352 Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, from a cut designed by Holbein in his Bible-prints, Lyons, 1539 368 The Fool, from the same work 369 The sheath of a dagger, intended as a design for a chaser 374 Portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt from a cut designed by Holbein in Leland's Naeniae, 1542 379 Prayer, from a cut designed by Holbein in Archbishop Cranmer's Catechism, 1548 380 Christ casting out Devils, from another cut by Holbein, in the same work 381 The Creation, from the same work 382 The Crucifixion, from the same 382 Christ's Agony, from the same 382 Genealogical Tree, from an edition of the New Testament, printed at Zurich by Froschover, 1554 383 St. Luke, from Tindale's Translation of the New Testament, 1534 384 St James, from the same 384 Death on the Pale Horse, from the same 384 Cain killing Abel, from Coverdale's Translation of the Old and New Testament, 1535 386 Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, from the same 387 The Two Spies, from the same 387 St. Matthew, from the same 388 St. John the Baptist, from the same 388 St. Paul writing, from the same 388 Frontispiece to Marcolini's Sorti, Venice, 1540, by Joseph Porta Garfagninus, after a Study by Raffaele for the School of Athens 390 Punitione, from the same work 392 Matrimony, from the same 392 Cards, from the same 393 Truth saved by Time, from the same 393 The Labour of Alcmena, from Dolce's Transformationi, Venice, 1553 394 Monogram, from Palatino's Treatise on Writing, Rome, 1561 396 Hieroglyphic Sonnet, from the same work 396 Portraits of Petrarch and Laura, from Petrarch's Sonetti, Lyons, 1547 400 Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise, from Quadrins Historiques de la Bible, Lyons, 1550-1560 401 Christ tempted by Satan, from Figures du Nouveau Testament, Lyons, 1553-1570 402 Briefmaler, from a book of Trades and Professions, Frankfort, 1564-1574 410 Formschneider, from the same 411 The Goose Tree, from Sebastian Munster's Cosmography, Basle, 1550-1554 414 William Tell about to shoot at the apple on his son's head, from the same 416 Portrait of Dr. William Cuningham, from his Cosmographical Glass, London, 1559 424 Four initial letters, from the same work 425, 426, 427 Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, from the Books of Christian Prayers printed by John Daye, 1569 428 Large initial letter, from Fox's Acts and Monuments, 1576 429 Initial letter, from a work printed by Giolito at Venice, about 1550 430 Two Cats, from an edition of Dante, printed at Venice, 1578 431 Emblem of Water, from a chiaro-scuro by Henry Goltzius, about 1590 433 Caricature of the Laocoon, after a cut designed by Titian 435 The Good Householder, from a cut printed at London, 1607 437 Virgin and Christ, from a cut designed by Rubens, and engraved by Christopher Jegher 438 The Infant Christ and John the Baptist, from a cut designed by Rubens, and engraved by Christopher Jegher 439 Jael and Sisera, from a cut designed by Henry Goltzius, and engraved by C. Van Sichem 440 Tail-piece, from an old cut on the title-page of the first known edition of Robin Hood's Garland, 1670 445

WOOD ENGRAVING.

ANTIQUITY OF ENGRAVING.

Engraving -- The Word Explained -- The Art Defined -- Distinction Between Engraving on Copper and on Wood -- Early Practice of the Art of Impressing Characters by Means of Stamps Instanced in Babylonian Bricks; Fragments of Egyptian and Etruscan Earthenware; Roman Lamps, Tiles, and Amphorae -- The Cauterium or Brand -- Principle of Stencilling Known to the Romans -- Royal Signatures thus Affixed -- Practice of Stamping Monograms on Documents in the Middle Ages -- Notarial Stamps -- Merchants'-Marks -- Coins, Seals, and Sepulchral Brasses -- Examination of Mr. Ottley's Opinions Concerning the Origin of the Art of Wood Engraving in Europe, and its Early Practice by Two Wonderful Children, the Cunio.

As few persons know, even amongst those who profess to be admirers of the art of Wood Engraving, by what means its effects, as seen in books and single impressions, are produced, and as a yet smaller number understand in what manner it specifically differs in its procedure from the art of engraving on copper or steel, it appears necessary, before entering into any historic detail of its progress, to premise a few observations explanatory of the word ENGRAVING in its general acceptation, and more particularly descriptive of that branch of the art which several persons call Xylography; but which is as clearly expressed, and much more generally understood, by the term WOOD ENGRAVING.

ENGRAVING, as the word is at the present time popularly used, and considered in its relation to the pictorial art, may be defined to be--"The art of representing objects on metallic substances, or on wood, expressed by lines and points produced by means of corrosion, incision, or excision, for the purpose of their being impressed on paper by means of ink or other colouring matter."

Independent of the difference of the material on which copper-plate engraving and wood engraving are executed, the grand distinction between the two arts is, that the engraver on copper corrodes by means of aqua-fortis, or cuts out with the burin or dry-point, the lines, stipplings, and hatchings from which his impression is to be produced; while, on the contrary, the wood engraver effects his purpose by cutting away those parts which are to appear white or colourless, thus leaving the lines which produce the impression prominent.

Both the preceding impressions are produced in the same manner by means of the common printing-press. One is from wood; the other, where the white lines are seen on a black ground, is from copper;--the hollowed lines, which in copper-plate printing yield the impression, receiving no ink from the printer's balls or rollers; while the surface, which in copper-plate printing is wiped clean after the lines are filled with ink, is perfectly covered with it. It is, therefore, evident, that if this etching were printed in the same manner as other copper-plates, the impression would be a fac-simile of the one from wood. It has been judged necessary to be thus minute in explaining the difference between copper-plate and wood engraving, as the difference in the mode of obtaining impressions does not appear to have been previously pointed out with sufficient precision.

As it does not come within the scope of the present work to inquire into the origin of sculpture generally, I shall not here venture to give an opinion whether the art was invented by ADAM or his good angel RAZIEL, or whether it was introduced at a subsequent period by TUBAL-CAIN, NOAH, TRISMEGISTUS, ZOROASTER, or MOSES. Those who feel interested in such remote speculations will find the "authorities" in the second chapter of Evelyn's "Sculptura."

Without, therefore, inquiring when or by whom the art of engraving for the purpose of producing impressions was invented, I shall endeavour to show that such an art, however rude, was known at a very early period; and that it continued to be practised in Europe, though to a very limited extent, from an age anterior to the birth of Christ, to the year 1400. In the fifteenth century, its principles appear to have been more generally applied;--first, to the simple cutting of figures on wood for the purpose of being impressed on paper; next, to cutting figures and explanatory text on the same block, and then entire pages of text without figures, till the "ARS GRAPHICA ET IMPRESSORIA" attained its perfection in the discovery of PRINTING by means of movable fusile types.

At a very early period stamps of wood, having hieroglyphic characters engraved on them, were used in Egypt for the purpose of producing impressions on bricks, and on other articles made of clay. This fact, which might have been inferred from the ancient bricks and fragments of earthenware containing characters evidently communicated by means of a stamp, has been established by the discovery of several of those wooden stamps, of undoubted antiquity, in the tombs at Thebes, Meroe, and other places. The following cuts represent the face and the back of one of the most perfect of those stamps, which was found in a tomb at Thebes, and has recently been brought to this country by Edward William Lane, Esq.

In the British Museum are several bricks which have been found on the site of ancient Babylon. They are larger than our bricks, and somewhat different in form, being about twelve inches square and three inches thick. They appear to have been made of a kind of muddy clay with which portions of chopped straw have been mixed to cause it to bind; and their general appearance and colour, which is like that of a common brick before it is burnt, plainly enough indicate that they have not been hardened by fire, but by exposure to the sun. About the middle of their broadest surface, they are impressed with certain characters which have evidently been indented when the brick was in a soft state. The characters are indented,--that is, they are such as would be produced by pressing a wood-block with raised lines upon a mass of soft clay; and were such a block printed on paper in the usual manner of wood-cuts, the impression would be similar to the preceding one, which has been copied, on a reduced scale, from one of the bricks above noticed. The characters have been variously described as cuneiform or wedge-shaped, arrow-headed, javelin-headed, or nail-headed; but their meaning has not hitherto been deciphered.

Amphorae, lamps, tiles, and various domestic utensils, formed of clay, and of Roman workmanship, are found impressed with letters, which in some cases are supposed to denote the potter's name, and in others the contents of the vessel, or the name of the owner. On the tiles,--of which there are specimens in the British Museum,--the letters are commonly inscribed in a circle, and appear raised; thus showing that the stamp had been hollowed, or engraved in intaglio, in a manner similar to a wooden butter-print. In a book entitled "AElia Laelia Crispis non nata resurgens," by C. C. Malvasia, 4to. Bologna, 1683, are several engravings on wood of such tiles, found in the neighbourhood of Rome, and communicated to the author by Fabretti, who, in the seventh chapter of his own work, has given some account of the "figlinarum signa,"--the stamps of the ancient potters and tile-makers.

The stamp from which the following cut has been copied is preserved in the British Museum. It is of brass, and the letters are in relief and reversed; so that if it were inked from a printer's ball and stamped on paper, an impression would be produced precisely the same as that which is here given.

It would be difficult now to ascertain why this stamp should be marked with the word LAR, which signifies a household god, or the image of the supposed tutelary genius of a house; but, without much stretch of imagination, we may easily conceive how appropriate such an inscription would be impressed on an amphora or large wine-vessel, sealed and set apart on the birth of an heir, and to be kept sacred--inviolate as the household gods--till the young Roman assumed the "toga virilis," or arrived at years of maturity. That vessels containing wine were kept for many years, we learn from Horace and Petronius;

It certainly would be very difficult, if not impossible, to produce a piece of paper, parchment, or cloth of the age of the Romans impressed with letters in ink or other colouring matter; but the existence of such stamps as the preceding,--and there are others in the British Museum of the same kind, containing more letters and of a smaller size,--renders it very probable that they were used for the purpose of marking cloth, paper, and similar substances, with ink, as well as for being impressed in wax or clay.

Von Murr, in an article in his Journal, on the Art of Wood Engraving, gives a copy from a similar bronze stamp, in Praun's Museum, with the inscription "GALLIANI," which he considers as most distinctly proving that the Romans had nearly arrived at the arts of wood engraving and book printing. He adds: "Letters cut on wood they certainly had, and very likely grotesques and figures also, the hint of which their artists might readily obtain from the coloured stuffs which were frequently presented by Indian ambassadors to the emperors."

At page 90 of Singer's "Researches into the History of Playing-Cards" are impressions copied from stamps similar to the preceding; which stamps the author considers as affording "examples of such a near approach to the art of printing as first practised, that it is truly extraordinary there is no remaining evidence of its having been exercised by them;--unless we suppose that they were acquainted with it, and did not choose to adopt it from reasons of state policy." It is just as extraordinary that the Greek who employed the expansive force of steam in the AElopile to blow the fire did not invent Newcomen's engine;--unless, indeed, we suppose that the construction of such an engine was perfectly known at Syracuse, but that the government there did not choose to adopt it from motives of "state policy." It was not, however, a reason of "state policy" which caused the Roman cavalry to ride without stirrups, or the windows of the palace of Augustus to remain unglazed.

The following impressions are also copied from two other brass stamps, preserved in the collection of Roman antiquities in the British Museum.

As the letters in the originals are hollowed or cut into the metal, they would, if impressed on clay or soft wax, appear raised or in relief; and if inked and impressed on paper or on white cloth, they would present the same appearance that they do here--white on a black ground. Not being able to explain the letters on these stamps, further than that the first may be the dative case of a proper name Ovirillius, and indicate that property so marked belonged to such a person, I leave them, as Francis Moore, physician, leaves the hieroglyphic in his Almanack,--"to time and the curious to construe."

Besides such stamps as have already been described, the ancients used brands, both figured and lettered, with which, when heated, they marked their horses, sheep, and cattle, as well as criminals, captives, and refractory or runaway slaves.

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