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Simon Brett writes about wood engraving from the point of view of the practitioner and the enthusiast for contemporary work. Two books currently in print are essential to the student of the subject, both because there is little else available covering the same ground and because they have been hailed as doing what they set out to do, well. A third, fine print book gives an insight into the artist's mind and is an unrivalled compendium of his prints.
An Engraver's
Globe
Wood engraving world-wide in the twenty-first century
This 750-page book is the follow-up to two earlier directories of currently
working wood engravers, Engravers and Engravers Two. Where they listed
artists belonging to or known to the Society of Wood Engravers, this new,
international survey shows the work of 250 artists from 23 countries.
Nothing like it has been attempted since Clare Leighton's 1930 survey.
It is the 'bible' of the late twentieth century return of the medium and
while it does not and could not claim to be comprehensive, partly because
it was assembled out of responses received from artists contacted, it
will be a considerable time before anything replaces it as an insight
into the diversity of current practice in this versatile and lovely medium.
Wood Engraving
- How To Do It
The first edition of this book was published in 1994 in pocket-book format.
The revised second edition, 2000, was completely redesigned in a larger
and clearer format and has a considerable amount of new material, much
of it about the printing of wood engravings. The book seeks to retain
in print all the salient information from earlier how to do it books as
well as providing clear guidelines of its own. It differs from most previous
manuals in that it proceeds from first principles and understanding rather
than from materials and tools - priorities are put first and practicalities
fitted in around them.
Both books are published by the Primrose Hill Press
The Engraver's
Cut: Simon Brett
Thirty-one Wood Engravings Chosen by the Artist with an Autobiographical
Note
Published by The Primrose Academy, the fine print 'sister' of Primrose
Hill Press, and printed by Sebastian Carter, this was among the first
of what has become a distinguished and definitive series of monographs
in which artists are invited to make their own selection of their own
work. The engravings are printed from the woodblocks with sparkling precision.
printsillustrationbookplatesbooksnew
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& contactAll images on this web site are copyright ©1985-2005 Simon Brett