Wood-block printing: a description of the craft of woodcutting & colour printing based on the Japanese practice

Abstract

The following account of colour-printing from wood-blocks is based on a study of the methods which were lately only practised in Japan, but which at an earlier time were to some degree in use in Europe also. The main principles of the art, indeed, were well known in the West long before colour prints were produced in Japan, and there is some reason to suppose that the Japanese may have founded their methods in imitating the prints taken from Europe by missionaries. -- Editor's preface.

Contents

Ch. I. Introduction and description of the origins of wood-block printings -- its uses for personal artistic expression, for reproduction of decorative designs, and as a fundamental training for students of printed decoration -- Ch. II. General description of the operation of printing from a set of blocks -- Ch. III. Description of the materials and tools required for block cutting -- Ch. IV. Block cutting and the planning of blocks -- Ch. V. Preparation of paper, ink, colour, and paste for printing -- Ch. VI. Detailed methods of printing -- the printing tools, baren and brushes -- Ch. VII. Principles and main considerations in designing wood-block prints -- Their application to modern colour printing -- Ch. VIII. Co-operative printing -- Appendix: Prints and half-tone plates.