Edmund Evans - Process and Techniques

Process and Techniques

During the Victorian period, the art of book illustration gained popularity, supported through the work of wood engravers. Woodcut extended back centuries in Europe and further in Asia. Typically the parts to be printed in black were left in relief by the carver, allowing illustrations to be printed along with the text. Thomas Bewick developed the technique in the 18th century and "perfected the process that was used extensively throughout the 19th century, which necessitated the use of hardwood blocks and tools for metal engraving". The preferred method of relief engraving had been to work with the grain on the plank side of a block; however Bewick worked the end of the block and carved against the grain using a burin. Bewick passed his techniques to apprentices, including Landells, who in turn passed them to Evans. In the 1860s, Thomas Bolton developed a method for transferring a photographic image onto block, which enabled the engraver "to work on the surface".

In the 1830s George Baxter repopularised colour relief printing, known as chromoxylography, by using a "background detail plate printed in aquatint intaglio, followed by colours printed in oil inks from relief plates—usually wood blocks". Evans followed the Baxter process, with the modification of using relief wood blocks only. For The Poems of Oliver Goldsmith, Evans created a facsimile of a watercolour, by superimposing colours with the use of separate colour blocks, one by one, to achieve the graduated colours of the original. First, Foster drew the illustration directly on the woodblocks that were to be cut, and he then recreated a coloured paper copy of the drawing. Evans, using the same pigments as Foster, grinding them himself, produced inks to match Foster's colours. The printing was done using a hand-press, with nine or ten print runs required for each illustration. For A Chronicle of England, Evans engraved prints dropped into the text at six-page intervals. Doyle drew the illustrations directly onto the wood blocks and created coloured proofs. Nine or ten wood blocks (colour blocks) were used for each of the 80 illustrations, which Evans again printed on a hand-press. The use of colour and the ability to create subtle tones are characteristic of Evans' skill as a colourist. His work was distinctive because of the characteristic quality of the wood engraving (carving) and his manner of limiting the use of ink to create a more striking result.

Evans' process involved a number of steps. First, the line drawing of an illustration was photographed and printed onto block while the line drawing was engraved. Proofs of the key block were coloured by the illustrator; Evans would then "determine the sequencing and register ... to arrive at a close reproduction of the artist's original". Blocks were painted and engraved; one for each colour. A proof of each colour block was made before a final proof from the key block. Ideally, the proof would be a faithful reproduction of the original drawing, but Evans believed a print was never as good as a drawing. He took care to grind and mix his inks so they closely emulated the original. Finally, each block was placed so as to allow the individual colours to print on the page exactly as intended. Aware of costs and printing efficiencies, he used as few colours as possible. Illustrations were produced with a base of black, along with one or two colours and a flesh tone for faces and hands. In some cases, Evans may have used as few as four colour blocks: likely black, flesh and two primary colours; the addition of yellow allowed him a greater range. Each colour was printed from a separately engraved block; there were often between five or ten blocks. The chief problem was to maintain correct register, achieved by placing small holes in precise positions on each block to which the paper was pinned. If done correctly, the register of colours match, although sometimes ink squash is visible along the edges of an illustration.

Often the artist drew the illustration in reverse, and directly onto a block; in other cases the printer copied the illustration from a drawing. After the 1860s, images could be photographically projected onto the blocks, although it was more difficult for the printer to carve the reliefs without leaving the distinctive lines of the illustration. Books printed by Evans have been reproduced using some of the original blocks which have "remained in continuous use for over a century".