Wood-engraving

or Xylography. Box-wood is the only kind that can be used. The blocks when smoothed and polished are prepared for drawing on, by rubbing the polished surface with bath brick in very fine powder mixed with water. When this thin coating is dry, it is removed by rubbing the block on the palm of the hand; its only use is to make the surface le slippery. There are four descriptions of cutting tools used in wood-engraving. The graver is not very different from that used for copper-plate, but has the point ground to a peculiar form by rubbing on a Turkey stone. Eight or nine gravers, of different sizes, are generally required commencing with a very fine one, which is called the outline tool, and increasing in size or breadth. Tinting is cutting series of parallel lines, which, when engraved, form an even and uniform tint. For this proce there is a distinct set of tools called tinting tools. Gouges of different sizes are used for scooping out the wood towards the centre of the block, and flat tools or chisels for cutting it away towards the edges. The earliest known wood-engraving, “The Virgin surrounded by four Saints,” is dated 1418. A print of it is in the Bru els Museum.