9S1 



WOOD ENGRAVING. 



WOODS. 



083 



Ugo da Carpi. Their initials or monograms are on the works ; but their 

 claims to the engraving have been denied by Bartsch and by Passavant, 

 as well as by the writer in the ' Treatise on Wood-Engraving.' To Da 

 Carpi has been attributed the invention of imitating drawings in chiaro- 

 scuro, effected by using three or more blocks ; but it has been shown tl'at 

 this had been done earlier by Dieuecker, if not by Cranach, though Da 

 Carpi most certainly improved on it, and some of his designs are said 

 to have been drawn on the blocks by Kaflaelle himself, and many of 

 them are from his designs. Books were also at this period most pro- 

 fusely illustrated ; but, with the exception of those from the artists 

 already named, and a very few others of some (though inferior) merit, 

 the illustrations are very rude both in design and execution. The art 

 was chiefly practised in Germany, being greatly patronised by the 

 Emperor Maximilian, for whom Burgmair designed the great work 

 called ' The Triumphs of Maximilian.' Carpi was the only distin- 

 guished name out of that empire at this period, and the Italian wood- 

 engravings are, on the whole, even inferior to those produced in the 

 Low Countries ' A selection of the early German and Italian prints in 

 chiaroscuro may be seen in the King's Library at the British Museum. 



From about 1545 to 1580 wood-engraving continued to be much 

 used for the illustrating of books, but the style of the designs became 

 much lowered ; and during this period the execution of engravings 

 improved iu Italy, in Holland, and at Lyon, while in Germany the 

 reverse took place, although the productions of Jost Amman may be 

 deemed an exception, as they are designed with considerable spirit, 

 and executed with great care and neatness. His works are very nume- 

 rous : one of them, his illustrations to Schopper's ' De omnibus Illibe- 

 ralibus sive Mechanicis Artibus,' contains 115 prints of the princi| al 

 arts and trades then practised. Frm the end of the 1 tith century, 

 while the art continued to decline elsewhere, the cuts in English works 

 showed visible improvement. About this time, also, it became cus- 

 tomary to designate the designer as well as the engraver (they had now 

 become separate professions) in the impression ; as, for instance, in the 

 designs by Rubens, engraved by Jegher. From this period there is 

 little to be recorded of essential importance, till the appearance of 

 Bewick, though a regular succession of engravers on wood was kept up 

 both in England and on the Continent. The principal names iu Eng- 

 land were E. Kirkell, who published prints after old Italian masters, 

 in which the outlines were taken from copper-plates and the tints from 

 wood blocks; and John Baptist Jackson, who resided for some time at 

 Venice, and there executed a series of wood-cuts, intended as fac- 

 ximilis of drawings by Titian and other of the great Italian masters, 

 somewhat in the manner of those of Kirkall. 



Bewick, to whom the revival of wood-engraving is chiefly owing, 

 was born in 1753, at Cherryburn, near Newcostle-upon-Tyne. He was 

 apprenticed in I77 to Mr Ralph Beilby, of Newcastle, a general 

 engraver, who undertook anything from book-plates to cloek'faces, and 

 Bewick's first efl'orts in wood were made iu engraving diagrams for 

 Dr. Charles Hutton's Treatise on Mensuration ; but though it is known 

 that he endeavoured to improve himself in this line, it was in private, 

 for hi* master had little or no employment of the kind for him. He 

 devoted himself, however, to the art after the termination of his 

 apprenticeship, and in 177."> h received a premium from the Society 

 for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures, for the cut of the 

 Huntsman and the Old Hound, which appeared subaei|Uently iu an 

 edition of Gay's ' Fables,' published at Newcastle, in 1779, by 8. Saint. 

 After a short visit to London, he entered into partnership with his old 

 master in 1777, his brother John becoming their apprentice. He con- 

 tinued the practice of his art, furnishing the cuts to the edition of 

 Gay's ' Fables ' just mentioned, and to an edition of 'Select Fables' 

 in 1784. In 1785 he commenced engraving the cuts for his ' General 

 History of Quadrupeds,' for which the descriptions were written by 

 Mr. Beilby, and which was published in 1790. The excellence of the 

 work insured its success, and editions rapidly succeeded each other. 

 The merit of the work, however, did not consist merely in the execu- 

 tion of tin: cuts. Bewick drew all the designs himself ; the drawing 

 was in general remarkably cprrect, and the backgrounds and little 

 vignettes full of the most natural expression, simplicity, feeling, and 

 beauty. The success of the ' History of Quadrupeds ' led immediately 

 to the commencement of a ' History of British Birds,' of which the first 

 volume appeared in 1797, and the second in 18n4. Bewick had now 

 taken pupils, and in this work was materially assisted by them. 



From this epoch the art has continued to flourish. The pupils of 



Bewick were numerous, and possessed of great talent ; the celebrity of 



their master procured them immediate employment. Illustrated 



works became fashionable, at first at very high prices, but by degrees 



at lower rates, and particularly by the example of the ' Penny Magazine,' 



ved that a low price was not inconsistent with a high 



of excellence in the art of wood-engraving; and as it was thus 



lit within the reach of the very poorest, the public were farm- 



lian-cd with the best specimens, and a large sale was ensured. 



For the purpose of illustrating books, wood-engraving is peculiarly 

 adapted. Being worked in the same manner as type, impressions are 

 producrd with great rapidity. Any number of cuts may be printed at 

 n a sheet of paper that will conic into the press or m.ic-liinc, ami 

 an almost infinite number of impressions may be taken off without 

 material injury to them. Ti !i proper purpose of the art. 



The attempts which have been made to imitate the effects of copper- 



plates are misapplied, and the endeavours have been failures. The 

 extreme neatness, length and sweep of line, and bold outline of the 

 copper cannot be reached in wood-engravings ; while in depth of 

 shadow and effect they equal even mezzotint, with more distinctness 

 of detail. 



It is not necessary to detail the history of wood-engraving beyond 

 this period, as many of Bewick's immediate successors are yet living. 

 Within the last few years, also, the wood-engravers of France, and also 

 of Germany, have made such progress in improvement as to become no 

 contemptible rivals of their English brethren. Nor is it any part of 

 our plan to give practical instructions for engraving, which can only be 

 effectively learned by instruction and practice. A description of the 

 process, as practised in his time, is given by Papillon, in his ' Trait6 

 historique et pratique de la Gravure en Bois,' 1760; and a far more 

 detailed account, with all the modern improvements, by Mr. Jackson, 

 in the ' Treatise on Wood-Engraving,' already mentioned. We will 

 only observe that one of the greatest practical improvements, that of 

 lowering the surface of the blocks in parts, so as to graduate the 

 shadows into the lights, was, though not invented, yet brought into 

 use by Bewick, nearly all his blocks being so prepared for working ; 

 and that box is the wood now universallv used for engraving upon. 



(Ottley, Inquiry into /he History uf Engraving on Copper and Wood ; 

 Singer, Researches into the History of Playin^-Cards ; W. A. Chatto 

 and John Jackson, Treatise on the Hist"ry of Wood-Uncrating, histur'u-al 

 and practical. With upwards of three hundred Illustrations, engraved 

 on Wood; W. A. Chatto, Oriijin of Playintj-Cards ; Heineken, Idee 

 Generate d'une Collection complette d'Eitampes ; Eme'ric, David Hint, de 

 la Gracure en taille douce et de la (jravure en Biis ; Jean Duchesne, 

 Jeux de Cartes f'irots et de Cartes numeralei du, XIV' au XVIII" siecle 

 (published by the Soci(5lx5 des Bibliophiles Fran?ais) ; Heller, Geschichte 

 der Holzschneidrkumt.) 



WOOD NAPHTHA. [METHYL. Hydrated Oxide of Methyl'] 



WOOD-SPIRIT. [METHYL. Hydrated Oxide of Methyl. .] 



WOODS. There are in England many old natural woods remaining, 

 besides the royal forest*, although the great demand for timber during 

 the last war has greatly thinned them of their finest trees. When 

 woods were abundant and covered a great portion of the land little 

 attention was paid to the increase or preservation of the trees : kings 

 and lords of manors readily granted to their tenants rights of com- 

 monage, with the privilege of lopping the branches, always supposing 

 them to be useless dead wood. The consequence of this is still to be 

 seen in all old forests, especially the royal forests, which never were 

 enclosed or protected. Many fine old trees, whose age can scarcely be 

 guessed at, which are very picturesque objects and a fit study for the 

 landscape-painter, have evidently been lopped, at some time or 

 other, for the sake of the wood for fuel, and for want of care have 

 probably never been in such a state as would afford fine timber for 

 ship-building. Windsor Forest, which has only been inclosed since 

 1813, affords many specimens of noble trunks now hollowed out by 

 time and the admission of water from above, which might probably 

 still be sound and solid, had they been duly protected, and only those 

 branches carefully cut out which were dead and showed decay. The 

 dates of the iuclosurcs of different parts of Windsor Great Park can be 

 readily discovered by observing the form of the oldest trees. 



In many extensive woods on private estates the want of care may be 

 readily seen at the first inspection. Oak-woods are chiefly found in 

 stiff clay soils, where the water is apt to accumulate, by which the 

 rooto are injured, and the trees decay before they have attained their 

 full growth The water should be carefully let off by open drains and 

 ditches, which should be regularly examined and cleared out every 

 year before winter. The surface being thus kept dry, the timber, as 

 well as the underwood, will grow much more rapidly, and the increased 

 value of the wood will amply repay the outlay. Cattle should be 

 carefully excluded from all woods ; they destroy the young shoots by 

 cropping them, and do much damage to the underwood. At the time 

 when acorns and beech-mast are plentiful, pigs may be turned in 

 without danger ; they will turn up the ground in search of their food, 

 and thus bury beech-mast and acorns, which may vegetate, and grow 

 in time into fine trees ; for it is well known that an oak raised from an 

 acorn is always hardier and better rooted than one whioh is raised in a 

 nursery and transplanted in the woods ; and the same may be said of 

 beech raised from the seed. 



The sweet chesnut in one of the most useful trees in a wood, pro- 

 vided it has room to grow. Its timber, when of a certain age, is as 

 durable as oak, and the shoots which spring up from the old trunks 

 cut down give the most useful and profitable coppice-wood. When it 

 is recollected that a coppice may be cut advantageously every tenth 

 year, if a calculation be made of the value of growing timber after 

 many years, it will be found that the underwood, properly managed, 

 pays fully as well as the timber. It is usual to cut down such trees as 

 begin to show decay at top, when the coppice is cut ; but it is better 

 to anticipate this decay, and cut them when they have ceased to 

 increase from year to year as much as the interest of the money they 

 would sell for amounts to. For example : Suppose that an oak stand- 

 ing measures fifty cubic feet, and with top, lop, and bark, may be 

 worth ] 01. If it docs not increase above two cubic feet in a year, it 

 will not be profitable to let it stand : but if, by cutting down others 

 which interfere with the spread of its branches, its growth can be 



