should be uniformly equal: if they be, the effect that is intended
to be produced by the artist will fail; and instead of light, middle
tint, and shade, an impression will be produced that possesses none
of them in perfection; some parts will be too hard and black, and
other parts have neither pressure nor colour enough, with obscurity
and roughness, and without any of the mildness of the middle tint,
which ought to pervade great part of an engraving, and on which the
eye reposes after viewing the strong lights and the deep shades.
To produce the desired effect, great nicety and patience are
required in the pressman; a single thickness of thin India paper,
which is the paper I would always recommend to be used as overlays
for engravings, is frequently required over very small parts, with
the edges of it scraped down, for it is advisable that the overlay
should never be cut at the edges, but, even where great delicacy of
shape is not required, that it should be torn into the form wanted,
which reduces the thickness of the edges, and causes the additional
pressure to blend with the surrounding parts.
Particular parts of the impression will frequently come up much
too strong, and other parts too weak, it will then be necessary to
take out from between the tympans a thickness of paper, and add an
additional tympan sheet, cutting away those parts that come off too
hard, and scraping down the edges; scraping away half the thickness
of a tympan sheet in small parts that require to be a little
lightened will improve the impression.
The light parts require little pressure, but the depths should be
brought up so as to produce a full and firm impression.
If a block be hollow on the surface, underlaying the hollow part will
bring it up better than overlaying it, at least so much that it shall
only require a thickness or two of paper as overlays. If a block be
too low, it is advisable to underlay it, for the purpose of raising
it to the proper height, in preference to making use of overlays,
for they act in some measure as blankets, being pressed into the
interstices, and rendering the lines thicker than in the engraving.
It will be necessary sometimes, when the surface of the block is very
uneven, to tear away parts of the paper in the tympan, to equalise
the impression where it is too hard.
The pressman will find it convenient to pull a few impressions
while he is making ready, on soiled or damaged India paper, for out
of these he can cut overlays to the precise shape and size that
is wanted, as he will constantly find it necessary to do so in
instances where great accuracy is required in overlaying particular
portions; and in these instances he cannot well do without a sharp
penknife and a pair of good small scissars. A fine sharp bodkin and
a needle or two, to take out picks, are also needful; but he should
be particularly careful in so using them as that he do no injury.
The best way to avoid this is to draw the bodkin or needle point
cautiously in the direction of the lines.
Engravings that are in the vignette form require great attention to
keep the edges light and clear, and in general it is necessary to
scrape away one or two thicknesses of paper, in order to lighten
the impression and keep it clean; for the edges being irregular,
and parts, such as small branches of trees, leaves, &c. straggling,
for the purpose of giving freedom to the design, they are subject
to come off too hard, and are liable to picks, which give great
trouble, and are difficult to be kept clear of. Bearers letter-high
placed round the block, if they can be applied without the balls
touching them, will be found advantageous; if they cannot, pieces of
reglet, pasted on the frisket in the usual way, and taking a bearing
on the furniture, must be substituted, but the high bearer is to
be preferred where it can be adopted; these bearers equalise the
pressure on the surface of the engraving, and protect the edges from
the severity of the pull, which is always injurious to the delicacy
of the external lines. They also render the subject more manageable,
by enabling the pressman to add to, or diminish, the pressure on
particular parts, so as to produce the desired effect.
When great delicacy of impression is demanded in a vignette, it will
be found beneficial, after the engraving is beat with ink, to take a
small ball without ink, and beat the extremities: this will not only
take away any superfluity of ink, but will be a means of preventing
picks, and give to the edges lightness and softness, particularly
where distances are represented.
If the extremities are engraved much lighter than the central parts,
underlays should be pasted on the middle of the block, which will
give a firmer impression to those central parts of the subject: it
would save trouble to cause the block to be a little rounded on the
face, as it would give facility in obtaining a good impression.
When highly finished engravings on wood are worked separately,
woollen cloth, however fine, should never be used for blankets, as
it causes too much impression; two thicknesses of stoutish hard
smooth paper, in lieu of it, between the tympans is better: sometimes
even a piece of glazed pasteboard is used inside the outer tympan.
The parchments ought to be in good condition, stretched tight, of
a smooth surface, thin, and of regular thickness, so as to enable
the pressman to obtain an impression as nearly as possible from the
surface only of the engraved lines.
It is indispensably necessary that the balls should be in the best
order, the same as for the finest work; and the pressman should be
very particular in taking ink, distributing his balls, and beating
the block well, otherwise he will not obtain clear, uniform, good
impressions. If the block be small, and it is worked by itself, he
will find that he can take ink more uniformly in small quantities,
by first taking ink with a pair of regular sized balls, and
distributing, and then taking ink from them to work his cut with; and
this more particularly if he be using a pair of small balls. For this
work he ought always to have the best ink that can be procured.
A large wood cut left on the press stone all night is very apt to
warp; when this happens, a good method to restore it to its original
flatness is to lay it on its face upon the imposing stone, with a few
thicknesses of damp paper underneath it, and to place the flat side
of a planer upon it, and four or five octavo pages of tied up letter;
in the course of a few hours the block will be restored to its
original flatness. This method is preferable to steeping the block in
water, which has been frequently practised; for the steeping swells
the lines of the engraving, and consequently affects the impression
to a much greater extent than this operation. For retaining the
original effect, as it came from the hands of the artist, I would
carefully prevent the block ever being wet with water, and, when it
had been worked in a form with types, would take it out before the
form was washed.
To prevent this warping during the dinner hour or the night, turn the
tympan down upon the form, run the carriage in, and pulling the bar
handle home, fasten it to the near cheek by the catch, where there
is one, or else by a chain or rope, or by a stay to the bar from the
offcheek; in iron presses this way is efficacious.
However long a time boxwood may be kept in the log, it will always
twist and warp when cut into slices for engraving, on account of
fresh surfaces being exposed to the air: large blocks may be restored
to their flatness by laying them on a plane surface, with the hollow
side downward, without any weight on them, in the course of a night.
When only a few proofs are wanted from an engraving, good impressions
may be obtained with little trouble on dry India paper, with about
six thicknesses of the same sort of paper laid over it, and pulled
without the tympan. This observation applies to small cuts, and
those of a moderate size; if proofs are wanted from large ones, it
will be found advantageous to put the India paper for a few minutes
into a heap of damp paper.
A fine engraving on wood should never be brushed over with lye: the
best method that I have found in practice, is to wipe the ink off
with a piece of fine woollen cloth damped with spirits of turpentine;
and if it should get foul in working, to clean it with a softish
brush and spirits of turpentine. It will be found in practice that
spirits of turpentine take off the ink quicker, and affect the wood
less, than any other article used; and the facility with which the
block is again brought into a working state, more than compensates
for the trifling additional expense incurred, as nothing more is
required than to wipe the surface dry, and to pull two or three
impressions on dry waste paper.
The engravers always show an impression when the block is taken home
to their employer; and this impression is taken in a manner, where
the subject is not of a large size, such as to produce a superior
effect to what a printer can with a press, when he has a number to
do, which are generally worked in a form with types, and his price so
low for printing, as not to enable him to do justice to the subjects.
This causes great dissatisfaction to his employer, and he is unable
to remedy the grievance; for the engraver’s proof is obtained by
means of a burnisher, with one thickness of paper in addition to that
printed on, so that he can examine each part to bring it up where
it is required, and leave the others as delicate as he pleases: he
thus obtains an impression from the surface only, perfect in all its
parts, with the best ink that can be procured; while the printer
gives dissatisfaction, because he cannot, in the way of trade,
perform impossibilities.
Papillon, in his work on Engraving on Wood, published in 1766,
complains of a plan nearly similar being adopted by the French
engravers, with which he finds great fault. The following is a
translation of the passage:--
“Some engravers on wood have the knack of fabricating the proofs
of their engravings far more delicately, and in a more flattering
manner than they really ought to be; and this is the means they
make use of--they first take off two or three, in order to adjust
one of them to their fancy, and which they think will favour their
imposition; having selected it, they only beat anew the parts of the
block charged with shades and the deeper strokes, in such a manner,
that the lighter ones, distances, &c. being only lightly covered with
ink, in as far as not being touched in the new beating, they retain
no more than what was left by the preceding impression; the result
is, that the new proof comes off extremely delicate in those places,
and appears pleasing to the eye; but when this block is printed in
conjunction with letterpress, the impressions then appear in their
natural state, and totally different from that which they presented
on delivery of the work. The strokes are of one equal tint, hard, and
devoid of softness, and the distances are often less delicate than
the foregrounds. I shall risk little by saying that all the three Le
Sueurs have made use of this trick.”
The pressman will find it an advantage, if it be necessary to do full
justice to an engraving, to have a good impression from the engraver,
and place it before him as a pattern, and then arrange the overlays,
&c., till he produces a facsimile in effect; but the most valuable
lesson will be when he can obtain the assistance of the artist at
the press side, to direct him in making ready the cut, and I would
advise him by no means to be impatient at the tediousness of the
operation, as he will obtain more information how to produce a fine
impression by this than by any other means. It will also instruct him
how to meet the wishes of the draftsman and the engraver, with regard
to effect, in a way superior to any other; and will, with care and
attention, ultimately lead him to excellence in printing engravings
on wood.
An assertion is now generally promulgated, that machine printing
is superior to that of the press, even for engravings on wood, and
thus misleading publishers and the public. When I come to speak
of machines, and of presses, I will endeavour to show that it is
incompatible with the principle of a machine that it can equal a
press in producing fine work.
ERRAND BOY. _See_ DEVIL.
ERRATA.
A list of errors that have escaped both the author and the printer.
It is generally printed in a small type at the end of the work. It
should always be kept down, and never brought out in a prominent
manner. Some authors seem partial to extend the errata, by noticing
the most trifling mistakes, such for instance as a turned letter,
and adding corrections of the writing and of misstatements of facts,
as well as new facts which may have arisen; and all under the name
errata, as if they were entirely the errors of the printer; in
this case they ought to be styled Corrections and Additions. In my
opinion, there is no occasion to insert in the errata any thing that
does not affect the sense. Mr. Beloe, in his Anecdotes of Literature,
states that “the book which is distinguished by the greatest number
of errata on record, is that containing the works of Pica Mirandula,
printed at Strasburgh in 1507, by a printer of the name of Knoblouch.
The errata of this volume occupy no less than fifteen folio pages.”
ETHIOPIC.
[Illustration: The Ethiopic Alphabet]
The Ethiopic language is descended from the Hebrew, yet approaching
nearer to the Arabic than to any other of the Semitic languages. It
observes the order of reading and writing from left to right, in
common with the other languages of the same origin. It has twenty-six
characters peculiar to itself, of which the order, figure, name, and
power are as follow:--
1. ሀ: Hoi. _h_, ה
2. ለ: Lawi. _l_, ל
3. ሐ: Haut. _h_, ח
4. መ: Mai. _m_, מ
5. ሠ: Saut. _ss_, ס
6. ረ: Rees. _r_, ר
7. ሰ: Saat. _ss_, ש
8. ቀ: ’Kaph. _’k_, ק
9. በ: Beth. _b_, ב
10. ተ: Tawi. _t_, ת
11. ኀ: Harm. _h_, ח
12. ነ: Nahas. _n_, נ
13. አ: Alph. _a_, א
14. ከ: Caph. _c_, כ
15. ወ: Wawe. _w_, ו
16. ዐ: Ain. _a_, ע
17. ዘ: Zai. _z_ Fr. ז
18. የ: Jaman. _j_, י
19. ደ: Dent. _d_, ד
20. ገ: Geml. _g_, ג
21. ጠ: ’Tait. _’t_, ט
22. ጰ: ’Pait _’p_, פ
23. ጸ: ’Zadai. _’z_, צ
24. ፀ: ’Zappa. _’z_, צ
25. ፈ: Aph. _f_, פ
26. ፐ: Psa. _p_, פ
Of these ጰ: and ፐ: are used only in words of Greek and Latin origin.
In expressing Arabic these seven, ሰ: ተ: ነ: ከ: ዘ: ደ: ጠ:, and in
Portuguese and Italian these three, መ: በ: and ለ:, are made use of
with the addition of certain horns.
Moreover, none of the above letters are connected, except ገ:, which,
in the name of God, sometimes coalesces with ዘ:, in this manner ̛ዘ:,
as ለ̛ዘለበሐረ:
The power of the letters approaches nearest to those which have been
added, whence it appears that ሀ: ሐ: and ኀ:, also ሠ: and ሰ:, also አ:
and ዐ:, and lastly ጸ: and ፀ:, are generally pronounced in the same
manner, which causes no small confusion in writing, as one cognate
letter is often put for another, so that it should always be borne in
mind in looking for a word in the lexicon, that if it is not to be
found under one letter, we should continue our researches under the
cognate.
These four ቀ:, ጠ:, ጰ:, and ጸ: or ፀ:, have a sound altogether at
variance with European custom, and the correct pronunciation can only
be learnt by hearing. But one destitute of a preceptor may approach
nearer to their genuine sounds, by first prefixing to each the power
of the vowel _i_, thus, _ik_, _it_, _ip_, _iz_, and afterwards,
having substituted in its place an apostrophe, he may add the vowels,
in this manner _’k-a_, _’k-e_, _’k-i_, &c., and similarly with
_’t-a_, _’p-a_, _’z-a_, &c.
In Ethiopic the numbers are not represented by the letters, but by
certain peculiar figures formed apparently from the Greek letters,
and which are included within two small lines, in the following
manner:--
[Illustration: Ethiopic numerals]
1. ፩: α’
2. ፪: β’
3. ፫: γ’
4. ፬: δ’
5. ፭: ε’
6. ϛ’
7. ፯: ζ’
8. ፰: η’
9. ፱: θ’
10. ፲: ι’
20. ፳: κ’
30. ፴: λ’
40. ፵: μ’
50. ፶: ν’
60. ፷: ξ’
70. ፸: ο’
80. ፹: π’
90. ፺: ϟ’
100. ፻: ρ’
200. ፪፻: σ’
300. ፫፻: τ’
400. ፬፻: υ’, &c.
1000. ፲፻: because in writing and speaking they say
ዐሠረፑ: ምላት: _ten hundreds_.
[Where blanks occur in the Ethiopic, the characters are not in
the British founderies.]
The other numbers are compounded from these, the greater being always
placed first, as as ፲፩: 11. ፲፪: 12. &c. ፳፩: 21. ፳፪: 22. &c. ፻፩: 101.
፻፪:102.
In Ethiopic the vowels are not expressed by particular letters, as in
the European, or by separate points, as in the Oriental languages,
but by certain small lines or circles annexed to the top, middle, or
bottom of the letters themselves, or by the shortening or lengthening
of one of the strokes, which changes are in number seven; whence
arise so many orders of letters, or rather of syllables, of which
the first is considered as the simple figure, and the remainder as
compound, and are read--the first by _a_ short, the second by _u_,
the third by _i_, the fourth by _a_ long, the fifth by _e_ long, the
sixth by _e_ or _y_ short, and the seventh by _o_; in this manner:
[Illustration: Ethiopic vowels]
+-----+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| | I. | II. | III. | IV. | V. | VI. | VII. |
| | | | | | | | |
| | ã. | u. | i. | ā. | ē. |ĕ, y̆.| o. |
+-----+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| H. | ሀ: | ሁ: | ሂ: | ሃ: | ሄ: | ህ: | ሆ: |
| L. | ለ: | ሉ: | ሊ: | ላ: | ሌ: | ል: | ሎ: |
| H. | ሐ: | ሑ: | ሒ: | ሓ: | ሔ: | ሕ: | ሖ: |
| M. | መ: | ሙ: | ሚ: | ማ: | ሜ: | ም: | ሞ: |
| S. | ሠ: | ሡ: | ሢ: | ሣ: | ሤ: | ሥ: | ሦ: |
| R. | ረ: | ሩ: | ሪ: | ራ: | ሬ: | ር: | ሮ: |
| S. | ሰ: | ሱ: | ሲ: | ሳ: | ሴ: | ስ: | ሶ: |
| ’K. | ቀ: | ቁ: | ቂ: | ቃ: | ቄ: | ቅ: | ቆ: |
| B. | በ: | ቡ: | ቢ: | ባ: | ቤ: | ብ: | ቦ: |
| T. | ተ: | ቱ: | ቲ: | ታ: | ቴ: | ት: | ቶ: |
| H. | ኀ: | ኁ: | ኂ: | ኃ: | ኄ: | ኅ: | ኆ: |
| N. | ነ: | ኑ: | ኒ: | ና: | ኔ: | ን: | ኖ: |
| A. | አ: | ኡ: | ኢ: | ኣ: | ኤ: | እ: | ኦ: |
| C. | ከ: | ኩ: | ኪ: | ካ: | ኬ: | ክ: | ኮ: |
| W. | ወ: | ዉ: | ዊ: | ዋ: | ዌ: | ው: | ዎ: |
| A. | ዐ: | ዑ: | ዒ: | ዓ: | ዔ: | ዕ: | ዖ: |
| Z. | ዘ: | ዙ: | ዚ: | ዛ: | ዜ: | ዝ: | ዞ: |
| J. | የ: | ዩ: | ዪ: | ያ: | ዬ: | ይ: | ዮ: |
| D. | ደ: | ዱ: | ዲ: | ዳ: | ዴ: | ድ: | ዶ: |
| G. | ገ: | ጉ: | ጊ: | ጋ: | ጌ: | ግ: | ጎ: |
| ’T. | ጠ: | ጡ: | ጢ: | ጣ: | ጤ: | ጥ: | ጦ: |
| ’P. | ጰ: | ጱ: | ጲ: | ጳ: | ጴ: | ጵ: | ጶ: |
| ’Z. | ጸ: | ጹ: | ጺ: | ጻ: | ጼ: | ጽ: | ጾ: |
| ’Z. | ፀ: | ፁ: | ፂ: | ፃ: | ፄ: | ፅ: | ፆ: |
| F. | ፈ: | ፉ: | ፊ: | ፋ: | ፌ: | ፍ: | ፎ: |
| P. | ፐ: | ፑ: | ፒ: | ፓ: | ፔ: | ፕ: | ፖ: |
+-----+------+------+------+------+-------+------+------+
The diphthongs are formed not only by the letters ው: and ይ:, mutes
of the sixth order, after a letter of the first or fourth order, as,
for instance, አውራኀ: _months_, ተሠይመ _it is appointed_; but also the
four letters ቀ: ኀ: ከ: and ገ: with the addition of certain peculiar
points, are generally considered to form diphthongs in the first,
third, fourth, fifth, and sixth orders, in this manner:
[Illustration: Ethiopic diphthongs]
+-----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
| | I. | III. | IV. | V. | VI. |
| | | | | | |
| | uă. | ui. | uā | ue. | uy. |
+-----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
| ’K. | ቈ: | ቊ: | ቋ: | ቌ: | |
| H. | | ኊ: | ኋ: | ኌ: | |
| Q. | ኰ: | | | | ኲ: |
| G. | | | ጓ: | ጔ: | ጕ: |
+-----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
In Ethiopic each separate word is distinguished by two thick points,
and the periods by four or more; there are no marks of accentuation.
The preceding observations are extracted from a small treatise on
the elements of Ethiopic grammar by George Otho, professor of the
Greek and Oriental languages at Marburg in Hesse Cassel, with an
acknowledgment of being indebted for his information to Ludolph; and
bound in connexion with the “Fundamenta Punctationis Linguæ Sanctæ”
of Jacob Alting, printed at Frankfort on the Main, in 2 vols., 1717.
_Ethiopic Types in the British Founderies._
_English._--Oxford University. Thorowgood & Besley. Formerly
Bynneman’s.
_Pica._--Caslon & Livermore. Thorowgood & Besley. Walton’s
Polyglot; through Andrews’s and James’s founderies to Fry.
ETRUSCAN.
The confines of ancient Etruria bordered closely upon the city of
Rome, being separated from it only by the Tyber to the south-east and
south. There is proof, indeed, that almost all Italy was at one time
under the power of Etruria.
Although the Etrurians seem to have arrived at the highest point of
civilization, and even of luxury, at an early period, whilst Rome had
as yet no existence, and to have been distinguished in a variety of
respects far beyond the people of surrounding nations, we are almost
wholly ignorant of their history, and even their origin is involved
in the greatest doubt.
The people of Etruria, called by the Romans Etrusci or Tusci, are
styled Tyrrheni or Tyrseni by the Greek historians.
The difficulties of the Etruscan question are increased by a
difference of statement and of opinion in the accounts recorded
on the subject, by Herodotus and Dionysius, two of the greatest
antiquaries and historians of ancient times.
Herodotus, who, says Athenæus (lib. xii.), obtained his account from
Lydians, gives to the Tyrrheni a Lydian origin, and states that they
emigrated under the command of Tyrrhenus, one of the sons of Atys:
while Dionysius, partly because Xanthus, an historian of Lydia, is
silent respecting this emigration, will not allow the tradition
to be true, but imagines them to have come from the north. It is
not improbable that both are in part correct: the earlier portion
of the Etrurians might have come from the north, while the later
colony (who must have been advanced in civilization to have effected
the voyage) might have been Lydians; and in all probability these
subsequent settlers constituted the dominant portion of the invaders
of Etruria.--_Sir William Gell’s Topography of Rome_, 8vo. 1834.
The Etruscan language must have been the same, or nearly so, with
the Hebrew and Phœnician. For, whether we consider them as descended
from Ashur, Peleg, the Egyptians, Phœnicians, or even Celtes, and
from some of these they undoubtedly descended, their language must
have been either the same with the Hebrew and Phœnician, or nearly
related to them. The first Pelasgic settlements in Etruria could not
have been many centuries after the deluge, and very few after the
dispersion; and at that time the languages, or rather dialects, of
the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Celtes, Syrians, Arabs, &c.,
must have approached extremely near to the Hebrews and Phœnicians,
which the learned allow to have been almost the same. With regard to
the Canaanites or Phœnicians migrating into Etruria, after the first
colonies of the Pelasgi or Tyrsenians settled there, it cannot be
denied, that their language had received but little alteration from
the primitive Hebrew. So that both sacred and profane history concur
to evince the Hebrew, Phœnician, and Etruscan tongues to have been,
in the earlier ages, nearly the same.
This likewise farther appears from the letters and manner of writing
anciently used in Etruria. The letters are almost the same with those
of the earliest Greeks, brought by Cadmus out of Phœnicia. The manner
of writing is purely Oriental, the letters being drawn from the right
hand to the left, consonant to the practice of the Eastern nations.
The former point is rendered indisputably clear by the Eugubian
tables, in conjunction with the Sigean inscription, and the latter
by a bare perusal of the generality of the Etruscan inscriptions.
Nay, the very remote antiquity of the first colonies that settled
in Etruria, as well as of the Etruscan language and alphabet, may
be easily inferred from those inscriptions. For as the Pelasgic
alphabet, that prevailed in Greece before the age of Deucalion,
consisted of sixteen letters, the Etruscan or Pelasgic alphabet,
first brought into Italy, composed of only thirteen letters, must
have preceded the reign of that prince. The high, not to say almost
incredible, antiquity of the Etruscan language and alphabet, has been
clearly evinced in two dissertations, by Mr. J. Swinton, printed at
Oxford in the year 1746.--_Univ. Hist._ 8vo. vol. xvi. 1748.