Mechanical Processes of E ngraving. 443 
now issue from the press without illustrations, merely be- 
cause good engravings are such very costly things, while bad 
ones are worse than none. Publishers regard the issuing 
of a first-class illustrated work with considerable trepida- 
tion, as a very serious speculation, and consequently send 
out many books and periodicals without engravings, al- 
though believing that such things are even necessary to se- 
cure popularity. On the other hand, many illustrated peri- 
odical works die out purely in consequence of the great 
expense incurred in their production. A glance over the 
yearly reviews of books published, will show that, consider- 
ing the immense number issued by the various publishing 
houses, the number illustrated is comparatively very small, 
although no one can, in these days, dispute the fact of 
illustrations being excessively popular. 
So much, then, for the general desirability of a mecha- 
nical substitute for wood-engraving. Let us, in the next 
place, consider what special requirements we ought to look 
for in such a process. , 
The first and chief of these, is that, in engraving an 
artist’s drawing it should do so without making the slightest 
alterations in it. Men cannot make machines of them- 
selves so far as to Co any species of work without stamp- 
ing it more or less prominently with their own individuality, 
and we seldom see two engravers who render the drawings 
of any one particular artist with equal accuracy, while we 
often see the individuality of the artist swallowed up in 
that of the engraver ; but a machine should give the special 
peculiarities of each artist unmistakeably, with unerring 
precision, and render nothing but what belonged to the 
original drawing. To this it may be objected, that if a 
machine cannot change or modify the character of a draw- 
ing, on the other hand it cannot improve it. This is true; 
and although artists commonly profess that their works 
are invariably spoilt by wood-engravers’ alterations, let 
justice induce us to whisper, just amongst ourselves, and 
in strict confidence, that sometimes, now and then we'll 
say, the wood-engraver really does improve the artist’s 
drawings, rendering them sometimes more artistic, some- 
times more accurate, and almost always more fit to go 
into the hands of the printer, whose special requirements 
it is his more particular duty to consider. In drawing for 
mechanical engraving, therefore, it is the artist who must 
understand the printer's wants, and consult them in his 
style and manner of drawing. But this is only putting the 
