Illustrations

llustrations have always been a significant element in private press publications. Modern printing techniques often make it difficult to determine the exact methods employed, but the most frequently encountered are woodcuts, created by cutting a reversed image into a block and applying ink to the uncut areas which are then covered by a sheet of dampened paper, and intaglio printing, in which an image is cut into metal, either by using a tool (engraving), or by chemical application (etching). In this case the cut areas are filled with ink, and the uncut areas left clean.

Other illustration methods include lithography, in which ink or paint is applied to a flat stone from which an impression is made; embossing, the impressing of a pattern into paper; pochoir, the colouring of a monochrome image by the use of stencils; and screen printing, where ink is applied through a fine screen stretched in a frame, the screen’s non-printing areas having been made impervious.