HAVING already noticed my beginnings, or first efforts, in engraving on
wood; and as at that time this department of the arts was at the very
lowest ebb in this country, and, I believe, also in every other country
in Europe, it may perhaps be of some use, or at least may excite some
curiosity, to know the part I took in renewing, or bringing into use,
this to me new art, as far as I was able, with the slender means in my
hands, and the many difficulties I had to contend with and surmount,
before anything like an approach towards perfection could be arrived at.
I ought first distinctly to state that, at that time, it never entered
into my head that it was a branch of art that would stand pre-eminent
for utility, or that it could ever in the least compete with engraving
on copper. I ought also to observe that no vain notions of my arriving
at any eminence ever passed through my mind, and that the sole stimulant
with me was the pleasure I derived from imitating natural objects (and I
had no other patterns to go by), and the opportunity it afforded me of
making and drawing my designs on the wood, as the only way I had in my
power of giving vent to a strong propensity to gratify my feelings in
this way. In process of time, however, as I began to improve, and seeing
the practical use printers were making of wood cuts, the utility and
importance of them began to be unfolded to my view; and the more I have
since thought upon the subject, the more I am confirmed in the opinions
I have entertained, that the use of wood cuts will know no end, or, so
long as the importance of printing is duly appreciated and the liberty
of the press held sacred.
The first difficulty I felt, as I proceeded, was in getting the cuts I
had executed printed so as to look anything like my drawings on the
blocks of wood, nor corresponding to the labour I had bestowed upon the
cutting of the designs. At that time pressmen were utterly ignorant as
to any proper effect that was to be produced; or even, if one of them
possessed any notions of excellence beyond the common run of workmen,
his materials for working were so defective that he could not execute
even what he himself wished to accomplish. The common pelt balls then in
use, so daubed the cut, and blurred and overlapped its edges, that the
impression looked disgusting. To remedy this defect, I was obliged
carefully to shave down the edges round about; and this answered the end
I had in view. The next difficulty was worse to surmount, and required a
long time to get over it; and that was, to lower down the surface on all
the parts I wished to appear pale, so as to give the appearance of the
required distance; and this process will always continue to call forth
and to exercise the judgment of every wood engraver, even after he knows
what effect his _careful pressman_ maybe enabled to produce, from this
his manner of cutting. On this all artists must form their own ideas. I
think no exact description can be laid down as a rule for others to go
by: they will by practice have to find out this themselves. While I was
patiently labouring and contending with difficulties which I could not
overcome, I was shown some impressions from wood cuts done long ago,
with cross-hatching, such as I thought I should never be able to
execute. These were from wood cuts by Albert Durer, and perhaps some
others of his day, in the collection of the Rev. John Brand, the
Newcastle Historian; and from these I concluded that Albert Durer must
have had some very easy way of loading his blocks with such an useless
profusion of cross-hatching, or he would not have done them so, unless,
indeed, he had found out some easy means of etching the wood (or perhaps
metal plates), quite unknown to me; but, if otherwise, I then, in
changing my opinion, could think of no other way than that he must have
cut his blocks on the plank or side way of the wood, on which it would
be more easy to pick out the interstices between the squares, or the
lozenge-shaped lines, than as I (at that time) thought it possible to do
on the end way of the wood. One of these plank blocks, said to have been
drawn by Albert Durer, was shown to me by my kind friend George Allan,
Esq., of the Grange, Darlington. The drawing, which was done with great
accuracy, seemed to me to have been done by a crow-quill, with a kind of
varnish ink, the strokes of which, from their regularity, looked as if
they had been printed from a well-executed copper plate, and transferred
to the block. After labouring for some time, endeavouring to produce the
like effect on my blocks, on the end way of the wood, not indeed to my
satisfaction, I felt mortified in not succeeding to my wish; and I then
began to think the impressions must have been printed from two blocks.
This, indeed, I soon found to be quite easy to do, as well as being
beautifully correct; and any artist may see this in a few minutes, by
cutting parallel lines on a piece of wood, and from it taking, by his
hand, an impression on a piece of paper, and then again inking the same
cut, and printing it in the same way, either directly in a cross or in
an oblique direction, upon the first impression. This can also easily be
done, from two cuts, at a printing press, and is much easier to do, and
better than the labour necessarily bestowed upon one cross-hatched
block. When I had accomplished this, and satisfied myself that the
process was both simple and perfect, as to obtaining the object I so
much wanted, my curiosity on this score ceased, and I then concluded
that in this way the cross-hatching might be set aside as a thing of no
use at all. The artists indeed of the present day have brought it to
such a pitch of perfection that I do not know that it can be carried any
further; and in this they have also been so marvellously aided by the
improved methods now used in printing their cuts, that one would be led
to conclude that this department has also attained to perfection; and,
had this not been the case, the masterly execution of wood cuts, either
by crossed lines, or otherwise, would have continued to be beheld with
disgust or contempt. I have long been of opinion that the cross-hatching
of wood cuts, for book work, is a waste of time; as every desired effect
can be much easier obtained by plain parallel lines. The other way is
not the legitimate object of wood engraving. Instead of imitating the
manner of copper etchings, at a great cost of labour and time, on the
wood, such drawings might have been as soon etched on the copper at
once; and, where a large impression of any publication was not required,
the copper plate would have cost less, and lasted long enough for the
purpose intended. I never could discover any additional beauty or colour
that the crossed strokes gave to the impression, beyond the effect
produced by plain parallel lines. This is very apparent when to a
certainty the plain surface of the wood will print as black as ink and
balls can make it, without any further labour at all; and it may easily
be seen that the thinnest strokes cut upon the plain surface will throw
_some light_ on the subject or design: and, if these strokes are made
wider and deeper, it will receive more light; and if these strokes,
again, are made still wider, or of equal thickness to the black lines,
the colour these produce will be a grey; and the more the white strokes
are thickened, the nearer will they, in their varied shadings, approach
to white, and, if quite taken away, then a perfect white is obtained.
The methods I have pursued appear to me to be the simple and easy
perfection of wood engraving for book printing, and, no doubt, will
appear better or worse according to the ability of the artist who
executes them. The first time I ever heard anything about colour being
produced by plain engraving was in the compliments paid me by Dr. Thos.
Stout, for my engraving on his large silver box. The device, or design,
I have now forgotten, but never what he said on the occasion; and from
that time I attempted _colour_ upon the wood; and, though I felt much
difficulty in my attempts at producing it, yet the principle is there,
and will shine out under the skill and management of any eminent
engraver on wood who is gifted with a painter’s eye; and his work will
be complete if seconded by a pressman of ability, who may happen to have
a talent and fellow-feeling for the art.
I have before noticed my lowering down the surface of the wood, in order
to produce the effect of distance, and the same thing holds good with
every figure where different shades of colour is desired. Leaving the
surface of the block without being pared down at all, and relying only
on the lines being left thicker or smaller for producing the requisite
depth of shade, this surface thus left acts as a support to the more
delicate lines, which have been engraved on the lowered part of the cut.
After all the parts are thus lowered, a further paring down of the edges
of the various figures which the cut contains may be necessary to
prevent their appearing as if surrounded by a white line. The delicate
lines thus lowered, go as to print pale or distant parts, and thus
protected by the stronger lines left on the surface—a wood cut, with
care, will print an incredible number: how many it may be difficult
exactly to say; but it once happened that I had the opportunity given me
of guessing pretty nearly at this, from the calculation of the late Mr.
S. Hodgson, when he called upon me with a gentleman (a stranger to me)
who seemed extremely curious to know everything respecting engraving on
wood. One of his queries was made with a view of ascertaining how many
impressions a wood cut would print. Not having anything in mind at the
moment, to enable me to satisfy him, I began to consider, and it then
struck me that a little delicate cut—a view of Newcastle—was done for
Mr. H. many years before, as a _fac_ for his newspaper. I then turned to
the date in my ledger, when he calculated exactly, and found it had
printed above 900,000. This cut was continued in the newspaper several
years afterwards. It was protected in the manner before noticed by a
strong black line, or border, surrounding it, within which the surface
was lowered previous to cutting the view. This cut is still kept; and,
except being somewhat damaged by being tossed about amongst other
castaway cuts, might, by being a little repaired, yet print many
thousands. This is mentioned with a view to show the great length of
time that cuts done in this way will last, if they are carefully
adjusted to the height of the type, and kept out of the hands of
ignorant, rude pressmen.
I am of opinion that cuts done in the manner called surface-cutting
cannot stand anything like so large an impression as when they are
lowered thus; for the delicate lines, when left on the surface, must
soon break down from the heavy pressure to which they are exposed.
[Illustration]
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