Engraving, a method of picture making. Pictures printed from engraved plates are also called engravings. There are two distinct kinds of engravings, wood engravings and engravings on copper or steel. The wood engraver chooses a block of wood, preferably boxwood, cut across the grain, that is, so that the surface is composed of the ends of the fibers. The artist draws his picture directly on the wood, or else it is copied from his drawing. The white wood is then cut away, so that the lines of the picture stand up like type. The block thus prepared is then set in a press and used to print from. In a wood engraving, the lines are pressed into the paper like the letters printed with type. Wood engraving is as old as the art of printing. Indeed, it is supposed to have suggested type. The black cuts and the large initials of early books were printed usually from wooden blocks. Wood engraving took a fresh start in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The engravers employed on the Century magazine gave the United States an enviable reputation in this particular branch of art. The wood cuts that appeared in the London Punch were considered creditable. Steel and copper engravings are produced by a totally different method. If the reader will consult the article on etching, he may find that the etcher uses a light needle with which to remove soft, yielding wax from the surface of his plate, and that the lines are bitten in by nitric acid; but the engraver on steel or copper cuts his lines with a sharp steel instrument called a burin or graver. It is guided somewhat like a pen, but is pushed through the tough metal by the palm of the hand resting on the handle. The engraver pushes his tool from him. Under a microscope an engraved plate is seen to be covered by what to a novice would seem to be a tangled mass of meaningless lines, dots and diamonds, but in reality, the work is systematic. Long parallel lines give an atmospheric impression. If crossed at right angles, they give a darker tone. Lines crossed obliquely by other lines are used to represent drapery, clothing, and other textures. Delicate, curving, parallel lines are used to delineate features, or a series of dots following a curve may be used to secure the same effect. A human head may be engraved by a single line led around and around with skill. As in the case of an etching, the ink lies in furrows. When an engraving is produced by this method the lines are ridges instead of impressions. Naturally, the sharpest, clearest pictures are obtained before the plate is worn. The pictures of the first series are called artist's proofs. The second are simply proofs, and those printed later are the engravings of the ordinary trade. An artist's proof from the plate of a celebrated engraver brings an enormous price. This may be understood the more readily when we learn that an artist requires to spend years on a large engraving, and that the artist's proofs are few in number and cannot be duplicated. See COUNTERFEITING.