on Wood) allusive to each Month, with the
Signs of the Zodiack, in such a Minute Stile, that he seems to
forget in that Work the Impossibility of printing it in a Press
with any Clearness ... But alas! His father and M. _le Seur_ [also
woodcutters] had examined Impression and its Process, and saw how
careful the Ancients were to keep a proper Distance between their
Lines and hatched Works, so as to produce a clean Impression ... I
saw the Almanack in a horrid Condition before I left _Paris_, the
Signs of the Zodiack wore like a Blotch, notwithstanding the utmost
Care and Diligence the Printer used to take up very little Ink to
keep them clean.

It is clear that too thin a strip of white between black lines was not
suitable for printing in the first half of the 18th century. But when
Bewick's cuts after 1790 are examined we can see many white lines
thinner than a hair. Obviously something had happened to permit him a
flexibility not granted to earlier workers on wood. Bewick's whole craft
depended upon his ability to control white lines of varying thickness.
Why was he able to do this, and why could it be done without trouble by
others after him?

Early paper, as already mentioned, had a ribbed grain because it was
made on a hand mould in which wires were closely laid in one direction,
but with enough space between to allow the water in the paper pulp to
drain through. Crossing wires, set some distance apart, held them
together. Each wire, however, made a slight impression in the finished
paper, the result being a surface with minute ripples. The surface of
this laid paper presented irregularities even after the glazing
operation, done with hammers before about 1720 and with wooden rollers
up to about 1825.[15]

In 1756 James Whatman began to manufacture a new, smooth paper to
replace the laid variety that had been used since the importation of
paper into Europe in the 12th century. Whether Whatman or the renowned
printer John Baskerville was the guiding spirit in this development is
uncertain.[16] Baskerville, who had been experimenting with type faces
of a lighter and more delicate design, had been dissatisfied with the
uneven surface of laid paper. Possibly he saw examples of the Chinese
wallpaper on wove stock, made from a cloth mesh, which was a staple of
the trade with the Orient. Hunter[17] describes the new mould:

The wove covering was made of fine brass