The engraved portions, such as are here represented, have been taken off in dark colouring matter similar to printer's ink, after which the impression appears to have been coloured by means of a stencil. As the back of the cut cannot be seen, in consequence of its being pasted on the cover of the volume, it cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty whether the impression has been taken by means of a press, or rubbed off from the block by means of a burnisher or rubber, in a manner similar to that in which wood-engravers of the present day take their proofs. This cut is much better designed than the generality of those which we find in books typographically executed from 1462, the date of the Bamberg Fables, to 1493, when the often-cited Nuremberg Chronicle was printed. Amongst the heaps of rubbish which illustrate' the latter, and which are announced in the book itself as having been got up' under the superintendence of Michael Wolgemuth, Albert Durer's master, and William Pleydenwurf, both most skilful in the art of painting,' I cannot find a single subject which either for spirit or feeling can be compared to the St. Christopher. In fact, the figure of the saint, and that of the youthful Christ whom he bears on his shoulders, are, with the exception of the extremities, designed in such a style, that they would scarcely discredit Albert Durer himself. To the left of the engraving the artist has introduced, with a noble disregard of perspective, what Bewick would have called a hit of Nature.' In the foreground a figure is seen driving an ass loaded with a sack towards a water-mill; while by a steep path a figure, perhaps intended for the miller, is seen carrying a full sack from the back-door of the mill towards a cottage. To the right is seen a hermit-known by the bell over the entrance to his dwelling-holding a large lantern to direct St. Christopher as he crosses the stream. The two verses at the foot of the cut,

Cristofori faciem die quacunque tueris, Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris, may be translated as follows:

Each day that thou the likeness of St. Christopher sees,

That day no frightful form of death shall make an end of thee. They allude to a popular superstition, common at that period in all Catholic countries which induced people to believe that the day on which they should see a figure or image of St. Christopher, they should not meet with a violent death, nor die without confession. * * * * The engraving though coarse, is yet executed in a bold and free manner; and the folds of the drapery are marked in a style which would do credit to a proficient. The whole subject, though expressed by means of a few lines, is not executed in the very simplest style of the art. In the draperies a diminution and a thickening of the lines where necessary to the effect, may be observed; and the shades are indicated by means of parallel lines both perpendicular, oblique, and curved, as may be seen in the Saint's robe and mantle."

Our author also states that in many of the wood-cats executed between 1462 and 1500, the figures are expressed, and the drapery indicated, by simple lines of one undeviating thickness, without the

slightest attempt at shading, by means of parallel lines running in a direction different to those marking the folds of the drapery or the outlines of the figure. If, then, mere rudeness of design, and simplicity in the mode of execution, were to be considered as the sole tests of antiquity, upwards of a hundred wood engravings, positively known to have been executed between 1470 and 1500, might be produced as affording intrinsic evidence of their having been executed at a period antecedent to the date of St. Christopher.

When the real facts in the history of some of the most interesting periods of art come to be ascertained, feasible conjecture will often be put to the blush in its attempts to explain anomalies. Thus wood engraving in England has attained a very high degree of excellence; and yet our wood-cuts when compared with the French, are with few exceptions greatly inferior, in as far as design and drawing are concerned. Now, in after ages, it may puzzle critics and artists to account truly and correctly for this incongruity, seeing that a constant and large demand is made for such works, and liberal remuneration the reward of anything of a superior order in this line. The explanation of the matter, however, is fully set forth in the volume before us.

We are first of all told that to draw figures on wood, where black and white are the only means by which a subject can be represented, requires a much higher and more accurate skill, than where positive colours can be employed, as in painting, so as to conceal the defects of outline. Feebleness and incorrectness in the drawing must always injuriously affect a wood-cut, and to the disgrace of England there are very few artists who professionally devote themselves to this part of the work, that possess the requisite knowledge and skill. The fact is accounted for in the following passage:

"Considering the number of wood engravings that are yearly executed in this country, it is rather surprising that there should be so few persons who are capable of making a good drawing on wood. It may indeed be said that there is only one artist (Mr. Harvey) in the kingdom possessing a knowledge of design who professionally devotes himself to making drawings on the block for wood engravers. Without the aid of his talents modern English wood engraving, so far as regards originality of design, would present a woful blank. Whenever a good original design is wanted, there is only one person to whom the English wood engraver can apply with the certainty of obtaining it; for though some of our most distinguished painters have occasionally furnished designs to be engraved on wood, it has mostly been as a matter of especial favour to an individual who had an interest in the work in which such designs were to appear. In this respect we are far, very far, behind our French neighbours; the more common kind of French wood-cuts containing figures are much,

superior to our own of the same class; the drawing is much more correct, more attention is paid to costume, and in the details we perceive the indications of much greater knowledge of art than is generally to be found in the productions of our second-rate occasional designers on wood. It cannot be said that this deficiency results from want of e fencouragement; for a designer on wood, of even moderate abilities, is better paid for his drawings than a second rate painter is for his pictures. The truth is, that a taste for correct drawing is not sufficiently cultivated in England: our artists will be painters before they can draw; and hence comparatively few can make a good design on wood. They require the aid of positive colours to deceive the eye, and prevent it from resting upon the defects of their drawing. It is therefore of great importance that a wood engraver should have some knowledge of drawing himself, in order that he may be able to correct many of the defects that are to be found in the commoner kind of subjects sent to him to be engraved. The superiority of French artists in all that relates to design is as apparent in their lithographs as in their wood-engravings."

There are other special obstacles which the English wood-engraver has to encounter, that frequently injure his best efforts. A want of cordial co-operation exists between this class of artists and the printers; and in very many instances consequently the engraver's talent as well as the publisher's money is thrown away. We are told that one printer's method of printing wood-cuts often differs so much from that of another, that it is generally necessary for an engraver who wishes to have justice done to his work, to ascertain the office at which a book is to be printed, before he begins to execute any of the cuts. He has to pursue different methods according to the circumstance of it being a steam-press, or a common one with a blanket. Certain peculiar niceties therefore beset this department of art; so that even when the draftsman and the engraver have done all that can be wished, their efforts may fail of their intent and capabilities.

But to return to an historical outline of the progress of woodcutting, we observe, that the St. Christopher was but one of many single cuts of Saints which were engraved and distributed amongst the people by the servants of religion, at the early period of the art alluded to in the description of the specimen; the figures on playing cards, there is reason for believing to have been the initiatory and proper stage in the antecedent history of the art. After the single cuts of Saints which were intended to be pasted into the religious books of the period, the next step in the progress of wood-engraving appears to have been its application to the production of those works which are known to bibliographers by the name of Block Books, and which are supposed to have been first executed between the years 1430 and 1450,-the cuts being in the simplest style, and without any attempt at shading. In these VOL. II. (1839). No. II.

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Block Books the text as well as the illustrations by the aid of art was cut or engraved upon wood. After the invention of moveable types, the cuts were printed by means of friction with a rubber or burnisher, and the types by means of a press, thus requiring a twofold process. Very considerable advances had by this time been made in wood-engraving; and probably England and France, as well as Germany and Italy, judging from the specimens that have descended to us, had encouraged the art, and bred professors and practitioners in it. In fact, Block Books, consisting of text only, continued for a time to be engraved, several years even, after the invention of typography. The art, however, which had advanced from a single figure with merely a name cut underneath it, to the impression of entire pages of text, was to undergo another change, which brings us to the second era in its history. "Moveable letters formed of metal," says our author, "and wedged together within an iron frame, were to supersede the engraved page; and impressions instead of being taken by the slow and tedious process of friction, were now to be obtained by the speedy and powerful action of the press. If the art of wood-engraving suffered a temporary decline for a few years after the general introduction of typography, it was only to revive again under the protecting influence of the press; by means of which its productions were to be multiplied a hundred fold, and, instead of being confined to a few towns, were to be disseminated throughout every part of Europe."

Moveable and cast types began to be worked with near the middle of the fifteenth century, and from the very first were combined with wood engravings. The Psalter, printed by Faust and Scheffer, at Mentz, in 1457, the first book which appeared with a date and the printers' names, presented large initial letters, engraved on wood and printed in red and blue ink, which, our author declares, are the most beautiful specimens of this kind of ornament which the united efforts of the wood engraver and the pressman have yet produced. They have been imitated in modern times, but not excelled. They are the first letters, in point of time, printed with two colours (two blocks would necessarily be employed), and they are likely to continue the first in point of excellence. By the year 1461 the art of type printing had travelled beyond Mentz, when we find that the letter-press came to be illustrated with woodcuts of figures, the printer Albert Pfister having sent forth some of the most interesting specimens. At this period, however, the wood-cuts that accompanied typography were inferior to those of the Block Books: and this circumstance is accounted for in the following manner:-"The progress of typography was regarded with jealousy by the early wood-engravers and block-printers, who were apprehensive that it would ruin their trade, and as previous to the establishment of printing, they were already formed into

companies or fellowships, which were extremely sensitive on the subject of their exclusive rights, it is not unlikely that the earliest type-printers who adorned their books with wood-cuts would be obliged to have them executed by a person who was not professionally a wood-engraver. It is only upon this supposition that we can account for the fact of the wood-cuts in the earliest books printed with type being so very inferior to those in the earliest Block Books."

The earliest book with wood cuts that is known to have been printed in England, is a second edition of Caxton's "Game and Playe of the Chesse," having been produced it is supposed in 1476. Other publications by the same printer in succeeding years are illustrated in a similar manner, the cuts, in so far as execution and design go, being by no means so excellent as to entice any other country to claim them.

Towards the close of the fifteenth century we find that maps were engraved on wood, a material very inferior to copper for such a purpose. We are told that in a folio edition of Ptolemy, printed at Venice in 1511, a mixed process was resorted to in the production of that work, the outlines, with the indications of the mountains and rivers, being on wood, and the names of places in type. But not to go more minutely into the sketch of the progress of wood engraving, or as detailed in reference to different countries, we have now to observe that, with Albert Durer, the Augustan age of the art commenced; not, says Mr. Jackson, as is generally supposed from his having himself engraved the numerous wood-cuts which bear his mark, but from his having thought so well of the art as to have most of his greatest works engraved on wood from drawings made on the blocks by himself.

The earliest specimens bearing Durer's mark that are known, were published in 1498, viz. his illustrations of the Apocalypse. In reference to the style and peculiarities of these works we have the following observations :

"In most of the wood-cuts supposed to have been engraved by Albert Durer we find cross-hatching freely introduced; the readiest mode of producing effect to an artist drawing on wood with a pen or a black-lead pencil, but which to the wood engraver is attended with considerable labour. Had Albert Durer engraved his own designs, I am inclined to think that he would not have introduced cross-hatching so frequently, but would have endeavoured to attain his object by means which were easier of execution. What is termed 'cross-hatching' in wood engraving is nothing more than black lines crossing each other, for the most part diagonally; and in drawing on wood it is easier to produce a shade by this means, than by thickening the lines; but in engraving on wood it is precisely the reverse; for it is easier to leave a thick line than to cut out the interstices of lines crossing each other. Nothing is more common than