The sun., 1910-05-07
NEW FIELD ron wOODCUTS.
Tee Sf Pictures IN AavertIslng Leads 10
Revival ef the Art.

Wood engraving nsve- went entirely
out Of vogue. but Il suffered q mighty
serious lapse from popular favor Just
now IL il coming back 20 use. especially
in the hsld Of commercial illustrating
In some forms Of advertising IL takes the
lions share Of the business.
Out Of thirteen Illustrations on three
pages Of q recent number Of one Of the
standard magazines eight we're wOOdcuts.
aays SHOP Notes QudTterly. In other
directions too thsrs 10 evidence Of dis
tinct revival Of the process. The only
reason more woOdcuts are not used Co
day IL that there are not enough skilled
wood enEravsrs.
The great commercial advantage Of the
WOodcut over the halftone and the Einc
etching h that IL gives Q depth Of cut and
a sharpness Of line which the process
msthods cannot attain. The first largs
commercial users % Illustrations that
recognize this since the introduction Of
photo-engraving were tho great mail
order houses. The millions Og catalogues
issued by them each year are now illus
trAted with WOodcuts only. because
these give the best results where large
runs Of presswOrk are involved and where
light weight pager is used.
Line stchings do not give lines shAFp
enough for these long runs. and The uss
Of halftOnss would just about double
the cost because Of the hsavier and more
expensive paper which would be REQUIRED.
With WoodCuts. on the other hand. any
kind Of paper may bs used from the light
est and cheapest to the best or most costly.
The max e ready" does not take ons-tenth
the time required for hAlltons form. and
any ordinary preasman can get good rs-
Hults from a woOdcut. Whsreaa not one In
ten can producs even fair work In halitOns
printing.
Another point in favor Of the Woodcut.
especially over the halftons. II the clean
ness Of printing quality and the cbsArnaaB
of detail For this reaSon the public school
authorities in some Of tho Statsa nov pro-
hibit the use of hAlftonea In text books.
Elsctrotyping in the cass Of . really fns
hAlftone h out of the question. To get
GOOD results from hAlftOne work in tho
Sig advertising campaigns q now engrav-
ing must be made for each magazine or
periodical In which the illustration is 20 b
used. and even then. unless the original
cut is patched into the form. careless cleo
trotyping may spoil the result.
In the case Of a wOOdcit. however. any
number Of electrotypes may b made
from one original. and the sleCtrotype
itself may be reduplicated. the retupli-
cate also giving a perfect impression.
This means = great saving. IN many
cases greater than the whole cost Of the
wood engraving.
But the vital point in favor Of wood
engraving is that with II the best results
can be obtained on real paper Beautiful
and really artistic sTeCts are produced
With halftones. especially In the high class
business literature, on which - much
money IL lavished now adRys, but these
pretty productions will not bear the test
of time In the case Of catalogues which
outlive their usefulness IN a year this u not
deplorable. but lovers Of literature and
art will rejoice that the revival Of wood
engraving promises permanence for ART
Reproductions which should be preserved
for pOsterity