ABSTRACT
Wood engraving, or xylography, predominates in all the travel accounts examined in this study. Popularized by Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) at the end of the eighteenth century, it became the leading method of producing printable images until it was replaced by photomechanical processes in the 1880s.1 Wood engraving combined the advantages of two earlier techniques: woodcut, the principle of which had survived more or less unchanged from the fi fteenth century, and copper engraving. The great innovation in Bewick’s technique was the ability to be able to imitate the refi ned lines and effects of metal engraving on wood. Unlike woodcuts, wood engravings were made on the end-grain of extremely hard wood, usually box, by using sharp tools and fi ne burins similar to those used by metal engravers. As a result, fi ne and detailed designs could be produced on wood. Despite the expense of imported box, this technique proved considerably cheaper than metal engraving. Moreover, as wood engraving blocks formed relief surfaces similar to letter-types, they could be printed together with text blocks.2 From a publisher’s point of view, this was a major factor as a page incorporating both textual and visual elements could be easily constructed.
