Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/660

 648 ENGLISH CHANNEL ENGRAVING and local dialects of the United States, which have appeared in magazines. ENGLISH CHANNEL, an arm of the ocean, sep- arating England from France, extending on the English side from Dover to the Land's End, and on the side of France from Calais to the island of Ushant. At the W. end it is 100 m. wide; on the east, where it is united to the North sea by the strait of Dover, it is 21 m. across, and its greatest width is ah out 150 m. The English coast of the channel is 390, and the French 570 m. in length. In it are the isle of Wight, Guernsey, Jersey, and other islands. A current appears to run through it from the west. On the English coast it has some excellent harbors, but those on the French side, excepting the artificial port of Cherbourg, are too shallow for men-of-war. Important pilchard, mackerel, and oyster fisheries are prosecuted in its waters. From its shape the French call it la Manche, "the sleeve." ENGRAFTING. See GEAFTING. ENGRAVING, the art of producing designs, either by incision or by corrosion, on the smooth surface of a wooden block, metallic plate, or other substance, for the purpose of transferring them to paper. In this sense the art is com- paratively modern, being but little older than that of printing, but in a more restricted sense it has been practised from a remote antiquity. Engraving on metallic plates is mentioned in Exodus xxviii. 36, and numerous other pas- sages attest that the Israelites were skilful in it, and also in gem and seal engraving. They acquired the art undoubtedly from the Egyptians, who, as well as the Assyrians, en- graved both on stone and metal. Specimens of incised copper plates found in mummy cases show that they were executed with tools simi- lar to those now in use, and impressions taken from them at the present day prove that the Egyptians needed but a single step to make the discovery of engraving in its modern sense ; but the idea of filling the incisions with color and taking a print from them on paper seems never to have occurred to them. The As- syrians even went so far as to take impressions from their engraved slabs in clay; and wax and other plastic substances were used for a similar purpose. Herodotus, speaking of a pe- riod 500 years before Christ, mentions a tab- let of brass on which was a map of u every part of the habitable world, the seas, and the rivers." In India and in China the art was practised from the most remote ages. Indeed, the various processes of metallic engraving, die sinking, and gem cutting prevailed among every ancient people who had made any pro- gress in civilization. In its more modern sense, engraving was probably first practised on wood, but its origin is involved in obscurity. The Chinese assert that they printed from engraved wooden blocks more than 1,000 years before Christ; but as they were unacquainted with the art of making paper until about A. D. 100, their assumption may be doubted. It is gen- erally conceded, however, that they practised the art at an early period, and it is supposed that it was introduced from China into Europe through the intercourse of Venetian merchants. Marco Polo describes the making of paper mo- ney in China by stamping it with a seal covered with vermilion. This was about the close of the 13th century, but even this simple art was not practised, so far as is known, in Europe until about a century later. Playing cards and rude cuts for devotional manuals were printed from engraved blocks in Italy, and perhaps in Germany, as early as the year 1400, if not earlier. A decree of the magistracy of Venice, dated Oct. 11, 1441, forbids the im- portation of any work printed or painted on cloth or paper, because the mystery of making playing cards and printed figures had fallen into decay on account of the influx of for- eign manufactures. The " St. Christopher " of 1423, a woodcut of folio size, in the collec- tion of Earl Spencer, was supposed for a long time to be the most ancient example of en- graving known ; but the baron von Reiffenberg recently discovered one of 1418, and M. Henri Delaborde found two plates printed oA the leaves of an old manuscript which prove the existence of wood engraving and the use of the printing press in 1406 (Gazette des Beaux- Arts, March, 1869). Among the earliest specimens of illustrated books that have come down to us is the so-called Biblia Pauperum, supposed to have been produced between 1430 and 1450. It is a small folio of 40 leaves, each containing a picture, with a text of Scripture or other ex- planatory sentence below it. The Speculum Humance Salvationis, another noted example of block-book printing, dating from about 1470, consists of 63 leaves of the same folio size, containing 58 pictures, with two lines of Latin rhyme under each. The legends on these early pictures led to the invention of printing. Many works printed in Italy, Germany, and England during the latter part of the 15th century were adorned with cuts, but they were generally of the rudest kind, with broad heavy lines. Near the beginning of the 16th century " cross hatch- ing," as the lines of shadow crossing each other are technically called, was first practised. It was freely used in the Nuremberg chronicle in 1493. The art made rapid progress, and early in the 16th century reached a high degree of excel- lence. The engravers invented about this time a way of joining the blocks together so that plates of very large size were made. One rep- resenting the triumphal arch in honor of the emperor Maximilian I. measured 10 by 9 ft. About 1610 wood engraving began to decline, and at length was applied only to tapestry and calico printing. The art was revived in recent times, the chief impulse being given to it by the founding in England of the " Penny Magazine " about 1833. This work was to contain many illustrations, and to be published cheaply and at short intervals, which made it necessary to print the pictures with the letterpress. This