Wood Engraving Process
Illustration in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
The images found in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan were created through a process called wood engraving or woodcut engraving, a popular and inexpensive technique for reproducing images. Its invention is often credited to Thomas Bewick in the 1790s and it rose to prominence in the publishing industry in the nineteenth century. What made wood engravings so significant was that the wood blocks could be laid out alongside movable type and printed using a conventional press. This drove the rapid expansion of the printed image during the Victorian age. Travel writers depended on their evocative descriptions and imagery to satisfy readers back home and explorers like Isabella Bird benefited immensely from the cheap inclusion of images in her text.The Process
Wood engraving is a relief process. This means that the image is created by cutting into the printing surface so that all that remains of the original surface is the design to be printed. The process typically begins with the selection of the proper wood. Wood engravings contain fine detail and require the endgrain of a hardwood like boxwood or lemon. The ideal block would be close-grained with narrow growth rings to prevent fine lines and small details from being disrupted. Engravers typically used a wide array of tools called burins to create specific types of lines in variety of thicknesses. In addition to these tools, engravers also depended on a sand-bag covered with leather that allowed for easy repositioning and angling of the block while carving.The video below by the Natural History Museum demonstrates this entire process in the style of its creator, Thomas Bewick.
What is the difference between a "Wood Engraving" and a "Woodcut"?
According to Norman Kent, wood engravings/woodcut engravings and woodcuts do not differ in method of their production. Rather, the primary difference is with the selection of wood. Wood engravings always use endgrain wood while woodcuts use plankwise wood. With a woodcut, the striations of the grain are apparent and can be made part of the style of the print. However, the precise detail of an engraving demands the density of the endgrain to maintain consistency without the interruption of the wood grain.Further Reading
Anderson, Patricia. The Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture, 1790-1860. Oxford: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press, 1994. Print.Beegan, Gerry. The Mass Image: A Social History of Photomechanical Reproduction in Victorian London. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.
Black, David and Paul Ritscher. "Wood Engraving." The Letter Press Commons. Digital.
Brake, Laurel, and Marysa Demoor, eds. The Lure of Illustration in the Nineteenth Century: Picture and Press. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print.
Kent, Norman. "The Woodcut versus the Wood Engraving." An extract from The Relief Print. New York, 1945. Digital.
