Aldis, M.A.
Cambridge: at the University Press 1916
for printed books were woodcutting, metal engraving,
etching, and lithography. But during the last five-and-twenty
years the province of everyone of these arts has been
invaded by photography; and the various processes by which
illustrations in black-and-white and in colour are now
produced are bewilderingly numerous. All these methods,
whether handicraft or mechanical, may be divided into three
groups distinguished by the nature of the surface of the block
or plate from which the picture is printed. In the first of these
the design is in relief, and, in printing, it is impressed into the
paper. To this group belong woodcuts, wood engravings, and
some of the modern mechanical processes such as zinc
etchings and half-tone blocks. In the second group the lines
composing the picture are sunk below the surface of the
paper. By this, the intaglio method, are produced copper-plate and steel engravings, and certain of the photographic
processes such as photogravure. The third group comprises pictures printed from flat surfaces, and includes
lithographs and, again with the aid of photography, collotypes.
Although the printing of pictures from woodblocks preceded the invention of typography, the printer of books in
movable type did not at first make use of the art of the engraver-or woodcutter, as the maker of early woodcuts
should perhaps be called-to illustrate the printed book. In fact, in its beginnings, the printed book had more affinity
with a manuscript than with either the woodcut picture or the block-book, and it was to the illuminator that the early
printer naturally turned for the decoration and illustration of his productions.
It was not long, however, before the printer perceived that the woodcutter's art might, with advantage, be utilized for
the adornment of his books; and that, not only for decoration in the shape of initial letters, borders, and other
ornamental adjuncts, but also for pictures which would elucidate the text or add to the attractiveness of popular
works. These woodcuts consisted of a flat block of wood upon which the design was drawn and the surface of the
wood afterwards cut away so as to leave the lines of the drawing in relief. Occasionally soft metal was used in place
of wood. The height of the block being adjusted to that of the type, the picture or ornament could be printed in one
and the same operation as the page of text.
The first printer to make use of illustrations was Albrecht Pfister, of Bamberg, who about 1461-2 issued several
popular German books containing woodcuts. But the history of illustrated books does not properly commence until
some ten years later when pictures begin to make their appearance in books printed at Augsburg, where there
existed a guild of craftsmen who cut blocks for printing playing-cards and pictures of saints, for both of which there
was at that time a large demand. Ulm, another important centre of woodcutting, followed the lead of Augsburg, and
the practice soon spread: Nuremberg, Cologne, Strassburg, and Mainz being among the chief German towns which
produced illustrated books in the fifteenth century.
< Chapter Index >