es of the 18th century had one
characteristic in common; they were almost all done with the engraver's
burin on type metal or end-grain boxwood. They therefore showed elements
of a "white-line" style as opposed to the black-line or knife-cut method
commonly used in other countries. While it is likely that Jackson was an
exception to the general rule in England (we have his word for it in the
_Enquiry_, as we shall see), he was also deeply influenced by the
prevailing English style of burin work on wood or type metal. If
Papillon saw a similarity between Jackson's cuts and those in the _Latin
Classics_, it might have been because he was unfamiliar with other
examples of English work and did not recognize a national style.

The initials "J. B. I." appear on a small cut in the 1717 edition of
Dryden's plays, also published by Tonson. If this is an early piece by
Jackson it would indicate that he might have been born earlier than
1701, although it is conceivable that he could have made it when he was
sixteen.

This is the extent of the evidence, or rather lack of evidence, of
Jackson's early years in England. Nothing is certain except that
woodblock work was at a particularly low ebb. Standards in typography
and printing were rude (Caslon was just beginning his career), far
inferior to those on the Continent. Cuts were used rather sparingly by
printers, and almost always for initial letters (these included little
pictures), for tailpieces, and for decorative borders. As a measure of
economy the same cut was often repeated throughout a book. Also, initial
letters were sometimes contrived to permit the type for different
capitals to be inserted in the center area, so that in some instances no
more than two cuts were needed to begin alternate chapters in a volume.
Rarely were woodblocks employed to illustrate the text. Pictures were
almost always supplied by the copper-plate engraver, even when the
prints were small and surrounded with typographical matter. This was an
expensive and troublesome procedure, but it was the only one possible
where an able group of cutters or engravers on wood did not exist and
where printers found it difficult to achieve good impressions on the
uneven laid paper of the time.

The main employment for knife cutters on wood was in making the popular
prints, or illustrated broadsides, which had been sold in city and
village throughout the country since the early 1600's. Plank and knife
could be use