as it lies on the blocks. The colours are mixed with
water and paste made from rice flour. The details of the craft and
photographs of the tools were given in full in the Smithsonian
Institution pamphlet already mentioned.

It is slow and unsatisfactory work, however, learning manipulation from
a book, and several technical difficulties that seemed insurmountable
were made clear by the chance discovery in London of a Japanese
printseller who, although not a printer, was sufficiently familiar with
the work to give some invaluable hints and demonstrations.

Further encouragement was given to the work by the institution, a little
later, of a class in wood-cuts in colour under my charge, at the L.C.C.
Central School of Arts and Crafts, which for several years became the
chief centre of the movement.

Such are the bare historical facts of the development in our country of
this craft imported from the Far East.

On a merely superficial acquaintance the Japanese craft of
block-printing may appear to be no more than a primitive though delicate
form of colour reproduction, which modern mechanical methods have long
superseded, even in the land of its invention; and that to study so
limited a mode of expression would be hardly of any practical value to
an artist. Moreover, the craft is under the disadvantage that all the
stages of the work, from making the first design to taking the final
impressions, must be done by the artist himself--work which includes the
delicate cutting of line and planning of colour blocks, and the
preparation of colour and paper. In Japan there were trained craftsmen
expert in each of these branches of the craft, and each carried out
his part under the supervision of the artist. No part but the design was
done by him. So that the very character of the work has an essential
difference. Under our present conditions the artist must undertake the
whole craft, with all its detail.

[Illustration: Plate II.--Key-block of the print shown on the
frontispiece.

(The portion of wood lying outside the points of the mass of foliage is
left standing to support the paper, but is not inked in printing.)

(_To face page 5._)]

Simple as the process is, there is, from first to last, a long labour
involved in planning, cutting and printing, before a satisfactory batch
of prints is produced. After several attempts in delegating printing to
well-trained pupils I have found it impossible to obtain the best
results