Engraving
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Engraving. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the art of cutting or incising designs on metal plates or blocks of wood, for the purpose of printing impressions from them with ink on paper, or other similar substance. Works of this sort belong to two classes: engravings on metal, in which the lines to be printed are sunk or incised, and engravings on wood, in which the lines to be printed appear in relief, the wood between them being cut away. In the former, the plate having been inked and wiped on the surface, retains the ink only in its hollowed lines, from which it is conveyed to the paper by the pressure of the printing press; in the latter, only the elevated portion of the surface of the block is inked by means of a roller, and, being subjected to the press, it prints as a raised type. Engraving on Metal. The metal most commonly used for engraving has been copper; but during the 19th century -steel was largely employed on account of its hardness. Steel is less readily engraved than copper, and yields a less free and artistic result; but as the surfaces of copper plates can now be protected by an extremely thin coating of steel deposited by galvanic action, which can be renewed as often as is necessary, they are enabled to yield a large number of excellent impressions without being -worn. Zinc plates have also been employed to some extent for etchings. The earliest of the impressions taken from engraved plates are those most valued by connoisseurs, on account of their sharpness, clearness, and richness, qualities which are gradually lost as the surface of the metal becomes worn by repeated printing. The term "working proofs" indicates trial impressions printed by engravers for their own use, to test the state of their work during its progress. "Artist's proofs" are those bearing the signature of the painter or engraver, or both. "Proofs before letters" are those thrown off before the printed titling, etc., has been a added; and "open letter etter proofs" are those in which the letters of the title have been added merely in outline. Line Engraving. -The practice of line engraving originated with the early Italian goldsmiths, who in this manner were accustomed to take proofs of the metal objects which they decorated with engraved designs, in order to test the progress of their work; and these nielli, or highly decorated plates of metal, in which the incised lines or patterns were to be filled with a black composition, are regarded as the earliest engravings. A pax or metal plate used in the Roman ritual to receive the kiss of peace, executed by Maso Finiguerra, in 1452, for the Church of San Giovanni in Florence, is considered to have been the first metal from which impressions on paper are known to have been taken. Etching. In this process a polished metal plate is coated with a thin transparent surface or "ground," impervious to acid. A mixture of white wax, gummastic and asphaltum made into the form of a ball and covered with silk is applied to the heated surface of the plate, and melting exudes through the cloth, when it is spread evenly over the metal by means of a pad of cotton-wool covered with silk, termed a "dabber." The plate is then exposed to the smoke of wax tapers till it becomes of a uniform black, which enables the etched line, disclosing the shining metal, to be visible on its surface. On this plate, so prepared, the design is drawn with an "etching needle," a sharp steel point fitted in a handle, and held like a pencil in the artist's hand. This needle discloses lines of the bare metal ready to be eaten or etched by the acid. The back of the plate having been protected by an application of Brunswick black, it is placed in the "acid bath," a flat tray filled with a mordant, usually composed of nitric acid diluted with an equal volume of water, which attacks and corrodes the metal in the lines that have been exposed to its action by the needle. After sufficient time has been allowed for the palest lines of the subject to be bitten, the plate is removed from the bath; these lines are covered with a "stopping-out varnish" of Brunswick black, applied with a brush, which protects them from further action of the acid; and the plate is returned to the bath, which attacks the lines still exposed. This process is rep repeated as often as necessary to produce the desired variety in depth of the various lines of the design. When the biting is completed, the plate is finally removed from the bath, the "ground" is cleaned off with turpentine, and the design appears incised on the metal. The plate is then inked and printed. Various methods of etching, and modifications of the process described have been introduced. Seymour Haden and James McN. Whistler stand at the head of the painter-etchers in England. Alphonse Legros and Hubert Herkomer have also done much to stimulate interest in the art. Among the younger painter-etchers are William Strang, Frank Short, and R. W. Macbeth. Among the most talented of modern etchers in America may be named Frank Duveneck, Otto Bacher, Henry Farrer, Joseph Pennell, Stephen Parrish, Mary Nimmo Moran, Thomas Moran, Swain Gifford, and Charles A. Platt. Mezzotint Engraving. - This method differs from all other processes of metal engraving in that, while other engravers work from light to shade, and each line which they draw prints as a dark, the mezzotinter works from dark to light, and each touch which he adds to his plate prints as a light. Mezzotint plates are prepared by the action of a kind of chisel, termed a "cradle" or "rocking tool," which passing over the surface roughens it, raising a "bur" of innumerable small metal points, so that if the plate were then inked and printed it would yield an impression of a uniform black. The engraver, having traced his subject on the plate, proceeds to smooth the surface by removing the "bur" with a scraper, in proportion as he wishes to introduce light into his design; the bur being left untouched in the darkest shadows, partially removed in the halflights, and wholly cleaned away in the high lights, in which the surface is perfectly smooth, and brought to a high polish by means of the "burnisher." The process of mezzotint was invented by an amateur, Ludwig von Siegen (1609- 1680). Among the mezzotint engravers of England may be mentioned Simon, Pelham, Beard, Miller, Houston, Frye, and Purcell. Noted in America for this art were Thomas B. Welch (1814-1874) and John Sartain (1808-1898). Aquatint Engraving. In this process the polished metal plate is covered with a solution of resinous gum dissolved in spirits of wine. The spirit evaporates, leaving the resin deposited in minute granulations on the metal surface. The design is then transferred to the metal Vol. IV-Cyc-C and the plate is bitten in a bath of diluted nitrous acid, which corrodes the portions left exposed between the grains of resin. The darkest parts of the design are longest exposed to the action of the mordant, the lighter parts being successively protected by a series of "stoppingsout," consisting of oxide of bismuth and turpentine varnish applied with a brush in a manner similar to that employed in etchthe "stopping-out" of an ordinary ary ing. The impressions produced resemble those yielded by mezzotint, both processes working by spaces and not by lines. This method is believed to have been invented by Jean-Claude-Richard de Saint-Non (1730-1804). Chalk or Stipple Engraving. The metal plate is coated with an ordinary etching ground, and the subject is drawn upon it by means of a succession of small dots produced by the point of the etching-needle. The plate is then bitten in the usual way with the acid, which corrodes the metal at the points uncovered by the needle; and it is afterward finished by dots, applied with the point of the etching-needle or burin on the bare metal. Jean Charles François (1717-1769) is said to have been the first engraver to employ this process. Mechanical and Photographic Process. - Engraving in recent times has been generally superseded by photographic and mechanical substitutes. The most important of these is known as photogravure or heliogravure. The beauty of the work produced by means of this process in the reproduction of paintings, of drawings in monochrome and of photographs direct from nature, has raised it to a position of great importance. A photo-mechanical process which is much used in the reproduction of the plates of the older engravers and etchers, and in the production of intaglio etched platereproductions from pen drawings has been carried to great perfection, some of the work produced by Amand-Durand of Paris being almost equal to the finest original etchings. A positive photograph is taken of the drawing or engraving to be reproduced (i. e., the lines are black, the whites clear glass); this is placed over a copper plate coated with a bituminous varnish, and exposed to the light. Where the lines of the photograph have protected the varnish from the light it remains soluble, but where the light has affected it through the glass it becomes insoluble. The varnish may then be dissolved from the lines and the copper exposed exactly as if the etching point had been used to make the drawing on an etching ground. The plate is then bitten in the usual manner, and finally touched up with the graver.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a method of picture making. Pictures printed from engraved plates are also called engravings. There are two distinct kinds of engravings, wood engravings and engravings on copper or steel. The wood engraver chooses a block of wood, preferably boxwood, cut across the grain, that is, so that the surface is composed of the ends of the fibers. The artist draws his picture directly on the wood, or else it is copied from his drawing. The white wood is then cut away, so that the lines of the picture stand up like type. The block thus prepared is then set in a press and used to print from. In a wood engraving, the lines are pressed into the paper like the letters printed with type. Wood engraving is as old as the art of printing. Indeed, it is supposed to have suggested type. The black cuts and the large initials of early books were printed usually from wooden blocks. Wood engraving took a fresh start in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The engravers employed on the Century magazine gave the United States an enviable reputation in this particular branch of art. The wood cuts that appeared in the London Punch were considered creditable. Steel and copper engravings are produced by a totally different method. If the reader will consult the article on etching, he may find that the etcher uses a light needle with which to remove soft, yielding wax from the surface of his plate, and that the lines are bitten in by nitric acid; but the engraver on steel or copper cuts his lines with a sharp steel instrument called a burin or graver. It is guided somewhat like a pen, but is pushed through the tough metal by the palm of the hand resting on the handle. The engraver pushes his tool from him. Under a microscope an engraved plate is seen to be covered by what to a novice would seem to be a tangled mass of meaningless lines, dots and diamonds, but in reality, the work is systematic. Long parallel lines give an atmospheric impression. If crossed at right angles, they give a darker tone. Lines crossed obliquely by other lines are used to represent drapery, clothing, and other textures. Delicate, curving, parallel lines are used to delineate features, or a series of dots following a curve may be used to secure the same effect. A human head may be engraved by a single line led around and around with skill. As in the case of an etching, the ink lies in furrows. When an engraving is produced by this method the lines are ridges instead of impressions. Naturally, the sharpest, clearest pictures are obtained before the plate is worn. The pictures of the first series are called artist's proofs. The second are simply proofs, and those printed later are the engravings of the ordinary trade. An artist's proof from the plate of a celebrated engraver brings an enormous price. This may be understood the more readily when we learn that an artist requires to spend years on a large engraving, and that the artist's proofs are few in number and cannot be duplicated. See Counterfeiting