12 



Pi'ocesses and Scl tools of Engravinr/. 



otlier trees, aiicl for larger woodcnts several blocks lla^"e to be made up and 

 fitted , together. Later impressions from large wood blocks often show 

 white gaps where the wood has warped, and the join slightly separated. 



A certain number (but quite a small proportion) of the black-hne 

 relief prints of the XYth and XVIth centuries are known to have been 

 cut on metal. Not, as is sometimes contended, the rude early cuts, but 

 the more delicate work such as is found ui various French Books of 

 Hours of about 1500, and m the borders and ornaments used by Basle 

 printers of the XYIth century. 



Woodcuts in which the blacJ: line is intended for the design is a 

 negative process in so far as the whites, i.e. the negative parts of the 

 design, have to be cut away. 



The tuJiite-line method, on the other hand, is positive. The cutter or 

 engraver here regards the surface as a black background, and the lines 

 he engi'aves form his design in white line. 



The earliest examples of white-line cuts are the " dotted prints " in 

 the maniere criblee. The material used is a metal plate, but as the 

 printing is from the parts of the sm-face in relief, it is proper to class these 

 prints with woodcuts. For convenience of printing in relief these plates 

 appear often to have been fastened to wood-blocks, if this is the right 

 interpretation of the pin holes seen at the corners of some impressions. 

 The name maniere criblee comes from cfible, the French for a sieve, as 

 part of the effect is often achieved by groups of dots (produced by 

 punches) resembling a sieve. These dots were used quite indiscrimi- 

 nately on the different parts of the design, wherever the artist wished to 

 break up his background. "Dotted prints" is generally used as the 

 English term, but the white Ime is an even more important element in 

 the process. A-'arious forms of punches and stamps, their heads lined 

 with different patterns, are also used, to avoid repeated engraving, and to 

 express various conventional forms in the design. 



A considerable number of the cuts in the French Books of Hours (of 

 about 1500) show similar white dotted work on a black ground, but they 

 are not properly classed with the prints in the maniere criblee, as the 

 design is always in black line, and the dots are reserved for the back- 

 ground. 



Plates engraved in the same manner as these white-line metal-cuts 

 of the XVth centm-y are also sometimes found printed in intaglio. 

 Generally a glutinous ink {^aste) was used, so that gold-leaf could be 

 attached, and further tints of colour were sometimes added to the 

 impressions. They are generally called imste-prints (in German, 

 Teigdruclie). 



Another very rare type of early print in which jjaste has been used 

 might be called ftocJc -prints. The velvety surface seems to have been 

 obtained by sprmkling dry powdered colour on to the damp paste 

 impression, and the textile appearance might be enhanced by preparing 

 the paper with series of short flicks cut in the surface. The German 

 title for such flock-prints is S ami -teigdruclie, the French empreintes 

 veloutees. They are apparently printed from ordinary black-line 

 woodcuts. 



The process of using severp.l wood-blocks in conjunction on one 



