ENGRAVING

(Sax. Spapan, to dig.) The art of producing by incision or corrosion designs upon blocks of wood, plates of metal, or other materials, from which impre ions or prints upon, paper or other soft substances are obtained by pre ure. Engraving, as an art, seems to have nearly the same relation to design and painting as tjTiography bears to written language; and its utility and great importance must be obvious to every one from its capability of giving a boundle circulation to representations of the most valuable examples of the arts and of objects connected with science. By some authors it is placed among the representations called monochromes (,aoye;^foi,aarfl/). Xylogr.iphy, or wood-engraving, was the earliest method practised; but its origin is involved in obscurity. If we might rely on Du Halde (Description, S[c. de rEmpire de la Chine, 4to. 1736), it is po ible that it was known in China 1120 years before Christ; though we think its invention is oi a much later period, as the Chinese were not acquainted with the art of making paper till 95 B.C. It has been stated tliat this art was introduced into Europe from China, through the intercourse of the [s. 411]