Many books have been printed on the subject of woodcut and wood engraving, but unfortunately most of them are out of print. However, many antiquarian booksellers list their books on the Internet. Websites such as Advanced Book Exchange (www.abebooks.com) and university and college book-exchange sites are great places to find that rare wood-engraving book. Here are some books that you might want to consider for your collection.
TECHNICAL
Bedoyere, Camilla de la. The Science of a Piece of Paper. Gareth Stevens
Publishing, 2009.
Beedham, R.J. Wood Engraving. London: Ditchling Press, 1921. With an Introduction and Appendix by Eric Gill. Reprinted London: Faber, 1948.
Biggs, John R. Classic Woodcut Art and Engraving: An International Collection and Practical Handbook. New York: Blandford Press, 1958.
Brett, Simon. Wood Engraving: How to Do It. Primrose Hill Press, 2000. A good practical how-to on wood engraving.
Chamberlain, Walter. The Thames and Hudson Manual of Woodcut Print-
making and Related Techniques. London: Thames and Hudson, 1978.
Chatto, William Andrew. A Treatise on Wood Engraving, Historical and
Practical. With 300 engravings by John Jackson. London: Charles Knight & Co., 1839. This is the definitive early study on wood engraving.
Cleeton, Glen U. and Charles W. Pitkin. General Printing: An Illustrated Guide to Letterpress Printing. Reissue, Liber Apertus Press, 2006.
Henry, Frank S. Printing for School and Shop: A Textbook for Printers’ Apprentices Continuation Classes, and for General Use in Schools. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1944.
Jacobi, Charles Thomas. The Printers’ Handbook of Trade Recipes, Hints & Suggestions Relating to Letterpress and Lithography. BiblioLife, 2009.
Kent, Rockwell. How I Make a Wood Cut. Pasadena, CA: Esto Publishing, 1934.
Lange, Gerald. Printing Digital Type on the Hand-Operated Flatbed Cylinder Press. Marina del Rey, CA: Bieler Press, 2001.
Maravelas, Paul. Letterpress Printing: A Manual for Modern Fine Press Printers. Oak Knoll Press, 2005.
Moser, Barry. Wood Engraving: Notes on the Craft. West Hatfield, MA: Pennyroyal Press, 1979.
Rothenstein, Michael. Relief Printing. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1970.
Ryder, John. Printing for Pleasure. London: Phoenix House, 1955. Reprinted Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1977.
Sander, David. Wood Engraving: A Complete Guide. New York: Viking, 1978.
Salter, Rebecca. Japanese Woodblock Printing. Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press, 2001.
REFERENCE
Ainslie, Patricia. Images of the Land: Canadian Block Prints 1919–1945. Calgary, AB: Glenbow Museum, 1984.
Bliss, Douglas Percy. A History of Wood-Engraving. New York: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1928. Reprinted London: Spring Books, 1964.
Brender à Brandis, Gerard. Wood, Ink & Paper. Erin, ON: The Porcupine’s Quill, 1980.
——— and Danuta Kamocki. The White Line: Wood Engraving in Canada Since 1945. Erin, ON: The Porcupine’s Quill, 1990.
Bates, Wesley W. The Point of the Graver. Erin, ON: The Porcupine’s Quill, 1994.
Beronä, David A. Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels: Harry N. Abrams, 2008.
Durer, Albrecht. Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer. Peter Smith, 1963.
Eichenberg, Fritz. The Wood and the Graver. Illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1977.
Elsted, Crispin and Jan Elsted. Endgrain. Contemporary Wood Engraving in North America. Mission, BC: Barbarian Press, 1994. Printed in a limited edition of 430 copies.
Fern, Alan and Judith O’Sullivan. The Complete Prints of Leonard Baskin.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1984.
Frasconi, Antonio. Frasconi: Against the Grain : The Woodcuts of
Antonio Frasconi: Macmillan Pub Co, 1975.
Garrett, Albert. A History of British Wood Engraving. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1978.
Gill, Evan. Eric Gill, A Bibliography. Revised by D. Steven Corey and Julia MacKenzie. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1991.
Goldman, Judith. Frankenthaler: The Woodcuts. First ed., George Braziller, 2002.
Hind, Arthur M. An Introduction to a History of Woodcut with a Detailed
Survey of Work Done in the Fifteenth Century. 2 vols. London: Houghton Mifflin, 1935. Reprinted New York: Dover, 1963.
Hubbard, Harlan. The Woodcuts of Harlan Hubbard. Scholarly Book Services Inc, 2002.
Jaffe, Patricia. Women Engravers. London: Virago, 1988. This book covers women pioneers in the field of wood engraving and woodcut.
Masereel, Frans. Die Passion eines Menschen. Munich: Kurt Wolff, 1928.
———. Mein Stundenbuch. With an introduction by Thomas Mann. Munich: Kurt Wolff, 1928. Text in German.
———. Landschaften und Stimmungen. Munich: Kurt Wolff, 1925.
Reprinted and translated as Landscapes and Voices. New York:
Schocken Books, 1988.
McCurdy, Michael. Toward the Light: Wood Engravings of Michael McCurdy. Erin, ON: The Porcupine’s Quill, 1982.
Mueller, Hans Alexander. Woodcuts and Wood Engravings: How I Make Them. New York: Pynson Printers, 1939. Contains 300 illustrations and includes progressive stages in printing a color engraving, sample book pages, series of prints for illustrated books and
techniques.
Polk, Ralph W. Elementary Platen Presswork, The Manual Arts Press, 1931.
Salaman, Malcolm C. The Art of the Woodcut: Masterworks from the 1920s. Dover Publications, 2010.
Sen, Sudeep. South African Woodcut: Peepal Tree Press Ltd, 1995.
Shapiro, Barbara Stern. From Paris to Provincetown: Blanche Lazzell and the Color Woodcut. Illustrated edition, MFA Publications, 2002.
Ward, Lynd. Storyteller Without Words: The Wood Engravings of Lynd Ward. New York: Abrams, 1974.
———. Gods’ Man: A Novel in Woodcuts. New York:
Jonathan Cape, 1929.
———. Madman’s Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts. New York:
Jonathan Cape, 1930.
———. Wild Pilgrimage: A Novel in Woodcuts. New York:
Jonathan Cape, 1932.
Walker, George. Graphic Witness: Four Wordless Graphic Novels by Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward, Giacomo Patri and Laurence Hyde: Firefly Books, Richmond Hill, ON 2007.
Woodberry, George E. History of Wood-Engraving. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1883.