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AltBOItETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

impressions were taken off by friction, without the aid of a press. The earliestspecimen of wood engraving now extant in England is in the collectionof Earl Spencer, and represents St. Christopher carrying the infant Saviour :the date is 1423. A very curious work was published between 1430 and1450, entitled Biblia Panperum, the Bible of the Poor. This work consistedof about 40 plates, illustrated by texts of scripture, all cut in wood (seePenny Magazine, vol. ii. p. 419.) ; and it is supposed to have given the firstidea of the art of printing with movable types, which was invented soon afterby Guttemburg. Wohlgemuth, a wood-engraver at Nuremberg in 1480, wasthe first who attempted to introduce shade into wood engravings; and hispupil , Albert Durer , carried the art to a very high degree of perfection;in his time the wood-cutters, or formschneiders, of Germany became so nume-rous as to be incorporated into a body distinct from that of the briefmahlers,letter-painters or writers. Holbein succeeded Albert Durer ; but soon after-wards the art of engraving on copper having been discovered, wood engravingwas comparatively neglected ; and it fell into disuse till the time of Bewick ,who displayed in it such extraordinary force, and delicacy of execution,as to revive a taste for the art. The first engravers on wood, and up to thetime of Bewick , or nearly so, were accustomed to have the trunks of the treeson which they were to engrave sawn up into planks, and to cut out the en-graving with a knife, or other tools, on the side of the grain; but, aboutBewick ’s time, or before, the practice of cutting the trunk across into sectionsabout 1 in. in thickness was adopted; and the engravings were cut on thewood, across the grain, with tools which will be hereafter described. Theadvantages of this mode are, that much finer lines can be produced; that theengraved block will give a much greater number of impressions; and that itwill be far more durable. The followers of Bewick produced some beautifulengravings; but, from the mode of printing them, though they were mixedwith the type, they were almost as expensive as if they had been worked, likethe metal engravings, from separate plates. By the modern practice, however,woodcuts are printed from with the same ease as the movable types. Themode in which the operation of cutting on wood is still performed differs hutlittle, according to the Penny Magazine, from that described and illustratedby a plate in a work called the Book of Trades, published at Frankfort in1654. In this plate, the formschneider, or wood-cutter, is represented sitting“ at a table, holding the block in his left hand, upon which he is cutting witha small graver in his right. Another graver, and a sort of a gouge, or chisel,lie upon the table. If we enter the work-room of a wood-engraver of thepresent day, we shall find the instruments by which he is surrounded nearlyas few and as simple. His block rests upon a flat circular leather cushionfilled with sand : and this so completely answers the purpose of holding theblock firmly, and yet allowing it to be moved in every direction, that it isexpressively called the wood-cutter’s third hand. His cutting instrumentsare of three sorts: the first, which is called a graver, is a tool with a lozenge-shaped point, used for outlines and fine tints ; the second, called a scauper,presents a triangular point and edges, and is used for deeper and bolderwork ; and the third, which is a flat tool, or chisel, is employed in cuttingaway those parts of the block that are to be left entirely light.” (Penny Ma-gazine.) The design is previously drawn up on the block with a black-leadpencil; the block, which is always cut directly across the grain, and polishedso as to present a perfectly smooth surface, being previously prepared withpowdered white lead mixed with a little water, to make it receive the pencil.The drawing is generally made by one artist, and the engraving executed byanother. It is the business of the wood-cutter “ to leave all the lines whichthe draughtsman has traced with his pencil; and to do this, he, of course, cutsaway all the parts which form the spaces between the various lines of thedrawing. The lines thus stand up, as it is called, in relief; and, when ink isapplied to them by the printer, in the same way as he applies it to his metaltypes, they transfer the ink to the paper placed over them upon being subjected