Xylography

(zi-log'rah-fe.) [From Gr. zylographo, I write on wood.) (Fine Arts.) The art of cutting designs. on wood, in such manner as to leave the lines in relief, those parts which appear white in the impre ion from the block being cut away; it is the reverse of the method adopted in copper or steel-plate engraving, in which the incised lines yield the impre ion. The history of this art is intimately connected with printing; indeed, they may be considered as inseparable, inasmuch as the earliest type letters were cut in wood, and the earliest books were those known among bibliographers as " block-books," or books every page of which was ب ا ل م are pi cap and fur D Fig. 697. ST. CHRISTOPHER. One of the first wood-engravings (1423). cut, both letters and pictures, in a solid block of wood. The earliest woodcut, with a date, yet discovered is the " St. Christopher," belonging to Earl Spencer. It bears date 1423, (Fig. 697,) and is a rude work, in coarse outline, representing the saint carrying the Saviour over an arm of the sea. This rude print has been afterwards colored by means of a stencil-plate, and was intended for pious uses, in conformity with the popular belief in the protection afforded by the saint's image. These early engravings and block books seem to have been printed by hand, and not by the pre ; for the reverse of the lines still retain marks of friction, by which the ink was transferred to the / paper, the ink generally being very m pale, like a weak tint of bistre, and is believed to have been a water-color. The most celebrated of the Fig. 698. "Llock-books" are the Apocalypse, the THE CREATION OF EVE(1457). Y. (wi.) the 25th letter of the English alphabet, derives [s. 971] Y Y, from the Greek r, and in the beginning of a word is looked upon as a consonant, while in every other position it has the effect of a vowel. In the middle and at the end of words, y is precisely the same asi; being sounded as i long, when accented, as in why, rely; and as i short, when unaccented, as in syllable, unity, . As a numeral it stands for 150, and with a dash over it, for 150,000. Y was not introduced into the Latin alphabet till a late period; and was then confined to words borrowed from the Greek, in which the Greek Canticles, and the Biblia Pauperum, all of which consist of pictures illustrated by a few lines of inscription, cut in one block of quarto size, and printed by friction on dry paper. Fig. 698, copied from the last-named book, is curious as showing the general manner of representing the Creation of Eve, during the 15th cent., the same subject frequently occurring previous to 1500. It has the appearance of a careful drawing " spoiled in the engraving." It was reserved for Albert Dürer to raise the art of wood-engraving to its highest excellence. There are about 200 subjects engraved on wood, which are marked with his initials; some of these he may have engraved himself, but the larger portion must have been cut by others, though all were designed and drawn upon the wood by him, line for line, as engraved. The art, as now practised, consists in cutting on pieces of box-wood designs drawn by an artist upon the surface. These designs, if tinted, are washed with Indian ink; such washes being cut into a series of fine lines, expre ing such gradation of tint when printed. The drawings are generally highly finished with the pencil, and in general are entirely drawn in pencil lines, the engraver having nothing else to do but to cut the wood out of the interstices with a series of tools of different widths and sorts. Hence much of modern wood-engraving is simply mechanical, and does not require a knowledge of Art; indeed, many wood-engravers have no power of drawing at all, and get every line drawn on the block for them by a profe ional " draughtsman on wood," of whom there are many. It therefore sometimes degenerates into the most mechanical arts,depending almost entirely on the designer. [s. 972] IMG:p1025_0.jpg:Gravür