the defects of cuttings in wood. The ancient wooden cuts were
certainly carried to a great heighth, but that was the merit of the
masters, not of the method.

[8] Austin Dobson, _Thomas Bewick and his pupils_, Boston, 1884, pp. 1,
2.

[9] Horace Walpole, _Anecdotes of painting in England. A catalogue of
engravers who have been born, or resided in England. Digested from the
manuscript of Mr. George Vertue_ ... London, 1782 (1st ed. 1762), p. 4.

Woodcut and Wood Engraving

It is necessary, before continuing, to distinguish clearly between the
woodcut and the wood engraving, not only because early writers used
these terms interchangeably, but also to determine exactly what Bewick
contributed technically. The woodcut began with a drawing in pen-and-ink
on the plank surface of a smooth-grained wood such as pear,
serviceberry, or box. The woodcutter, using knife, gouges, and chisels,
then lowered the wood surrounding the lines to allow the original
drawing, unaltered, to be isolated in relief (see fig. 1). Thus the
block, when inked and printed, produced facsimile impressions of the
drawing in black lines on white paper. Usually an accomplished artist
made the drawing, whereas only a skilled craftsman was needed to do the
cutting; very few cutters were also capable of making their own
drawings.

The wood engraving, on the other hand, started with a section of dense
wood of a uniform texture, usually box or maple, and with the end-grain
rather than the plank as surface. For larger engravings a number of
sections were mortised together. The drawing was made on the block, not
in pen-and-ink although this could be done (certain types of wood
engraving reproduced pen drawings) but in gray washes with a full range
of tones. The engraver, using a burin similar to that employed in copper
plate work, then ploughed out wood in delicate ribbons (see fig. 2).
Since the surface was to receive ink, the procedure moved from black to
white: the more lines taken away, the lighter the tones would appear,
and, conversely, where fewest or finest lines were removed the tones
would be the darkest. In the finished print the unworked surface printed
black while each of the engraved lines showed as white. It was the
"white line" that gave wood engraving its special quality. On the
smoother end-grain it could be manipulated with extreme fineness, an
impossibility with the plank side, which would tear slightly or
"feather