A techoical dictionary of printmaking, André Béguin.

was used. This paper was put down on the drawing, the gelatine side facing the artist, and was used like tracing paper.
The tracing was done with a rounded point (ivory, bone, or agate points) and then some sanguine powder was sprinkled in the lines formed in the gelatine. The sheet was then wiped so that the powder did not stay on the raised areas (a kind of

B. SHARPENING THE TOOLS. sharpening the instruments used in line engraving is both a delicate and an important task. It can even be said that the succes of an engraving is directly llnked to success in sharpening the tools. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to engrave with a badly sharpened graver. Lines should be cut without having to exercise excessive strength. The graver should slide along the plate surface, when cutting the lines, and make that slightly crinckly noise so well known to engravers. If the tool digs into the plate or slips out of the line this means it is badly sharpened and it is not a good idea to keep on cutting. Insofar as concerns the actual sharpening of tools turn to the article on the subject [sharpening].

C. CUTTING THE PLATE. Once the plate has been prepared, the tools properly sharpened, and the drawing transferred or traced, the engraving process may begin. Although each engraver has his own systems the main lines of the engraving are usually cut first so as to give an idea of the whole.
The shading is worked as of these first lines either by delimiting the shaded areas with a very fine line or then by accentuating certain lines. First one must cut the solid lines (which are the most important) and then accentuate the lines which are opposite light areas. It is important that the work carried out be well structured because line engraving is a slow technique (it takes a long time to cut an engraving) and corrections are hard to do. One must therefore proceed to work the entire plate globally in successive steps, rather than finishing one area at a time. The second step in engraving a plate comes after having cut the overall outline. After the outlines have been completed the values must be placed. Line engravers follow certain rules which have been used since the 16th century. These rules were originally derived from line drawings on paper and were later systematized for the printing of intaglio plates. The principle which guides the application of values in intagho plates called by the French burin rangé- was invented in the 17th century and further developed in the 18th century. A burin rangé is an engraving which is strictly organized in terms of form, lighting, and the matter of which the objects to be represented are made of.
This type of engraving was later called belle taille (literally the term means "beautiful cut") or the beau métier ("good workman-ship"). This "superior" form of engraving was generally used for reproductions and was therefore practiced by professional engravers rather than by original engravers (also called peintres-graveurs a term derived from the French). It is also true that the original engravers usually prefered etching as a medium. This different way of engraving of the original engravers was called by the French gravure libre (free engraving) as opposed to the burin rangé (controlled or ordered engraving). Original engravers did not have as highly developed a technique as the professional engravers but, on the other hand, they did have the inspiration, the courage, and the creativity often missing in the extraordinarily precise burin rangé. The formal precision of the burin rangé was such that there were rules for even the slightest reflection, shimmer, and haft shade so that only a genius could manage to go beyond these precise rules and sublimate them. The burin rangé was magnificently well defended by families of professional engravers stich as the Drevets, the Tardieus, the Audrans or the Cochins, and remained the most perfect way of reproducing scenes until the photomechanical processes were invented. It is quite natural that advertisement drawing kept up some of the rules developed by the burin rangé method.
The systematic rules of the burin rangé could not but lead to a form of academic work which was finally replaced by a more spontaneous technique. This new technique is still used in making stamps, letter headings, and in relief printing. It must be said, nevertheless, that the burin rangé rules were not entirely artificial ones but were rather established in functon of definable necessities: to make the ink stick to paper in the proper places when printing and to give a precise and correct rendering of relief, lighting, and the substance being represented. Of these two technical necessities only the first one is still of importance today. It is interesting to notice, however, that certain engravers who are little concerned with photographic realism, such as some abstract engravers, rediscover quite instinctively the rules of the beau métier. One is thus led to think that these rules are closely linked to the nature of the graver, its use, and the results it can produce.
Traditionally the lines cut into a plate were exclusively parallel lines and never touched each other. Intense grays and blacks were brought about by deepening the lines (also called swelling the lines) and was used in a type of engraving which the trench call gravure claire (light or clear engraving) in which no lines are crossed and in which the lines, even when swelled, do not bring about intensely dark shades. This style of engraving was also called taille simple or taille unique (simple line or single line) and was practiced by Claude Mellan, the most famous 17th century practitioner of this type of engraving. Mellan exagerated this technique to the point that he engraved a plate using only one continous line which began in the center and continued outwards in concentric circles until it covered the entire plate. The necessary relief was brought about, quite simply, by swelling and thinning the line in the appropriate places.
The lines of an engraving may also follow the shape of the thing represented. Thus, for example, the line may follow the rounded edge of a shoulder or the curve of a ball. Line engravers draw parallel lines and lines that follow the shape of busts in order to see the effects in perspective and in order to perfect their work. Half tones are obtained by making short little lines as well as by making little dots. Different materials can he represented as being distinct one from the other by using different textures: for example dotted surfaces for furs and crossed lines for moiré materials. Today similar effects are obtained by superimposing screens, but moiré is an effect that all three-colour printers try to avoid by superimposing the lines of their screens in fust the right way.
All of the points mentioned above are traditional rules. Each line engraver can use as many or as few of these pointers - as he wishes. Depending on his own inspiration and skill he can use a great variety of lines, cross them at right angles (as was done in the past to give a gray tonality to backgrounds), cross them diagonally, cut them back, deepen them, etc. However, a line engraver must always keep in mind, even if he adopts only a small number of the traditional tules, that the character of his work will be worthless if it can be replaced by some other print making technique such as dry point or etching. It is, however, possible to use line engraving in conjunction with other techniques if one does not consider the characteristics of the graver to be fundamental. The use of several techniques in order to make one print is called, quite simply, mixed technique.
Usually a plate is cut in successive steps beginning with the light grays. These grays are gradually accentuated to make them print darker and darker until even the black areas are completed. The engraving should also be cut all at once (step by step) in order for the final plate to have an even and homogenous aspect.
Insofar as the lines are concerned, the engraver begins by making his tool penetrate into the plate surface. The tool should penetrate a little at a time, without any forcing, and the thread cut out by the graver should be of a size proportional to the size of the graver chosen to do the job. When the line comes to an end the graver should be made to resurface slowly so that the line runs out gently.
If the line must come to an abrupt end as wide as the rest of the line, the copper thread should be lifted out with the blade of the graver and then cut with a scraper in the same direction as the line itself. If one wishes to continue a line that has come to such an abrupt halt begin before the end by cutting on a slope and then pursue the cutting of the line. If round holes are to be made in the plate surface proceed as follows: hold the graver to the plate surface at a 65° or 70° angle and rotate the plate.
Cochin gave useful guidelines as to what has to be looked after when cutting a line engraving. As he put it; "Line engraving is already quite severe by itself due to the fact that one must leave white spaces between the lines. Because of this one should always look for the richest solution possible. Since one cannot cut a wide line which will not result in a very hard black other solutions must be thought of. A soft stroke of crayon or brush can give a very wide line and yet remain soft. In order to imitate this effect in line engraving one must make several light lines, one next to the other, or else make little holes next to the main line so as to create a bit of shady softness. Shady areas also follow the same principle and therefore the lines in the darker areas must be deeper than those in the lighter areas. The next step is then to crosshatch the shadows themselves." [lines].

D. CORRECTIONS AND FINISHING WORK. When lines do not turn out as they should have they can usually be cancelled from the plate surface. If the line is a very light one it can be rubbed out with a burnisher. Deeper lines can be removed by scraping them with a scraper. If the lines are very deep it will be necessary to hammer the back of the plate (after having located the exact place that needs to knocked up). In order to find the right place to hammer, callipers or compasses are essential. The actual knocking up is done by putting the plate on an anvil (protect the lines underneath with a piece of cloth). The part of the plate that has been hammered will bulge out and therefore it must be scraped, pumiced, and polished before being used again. A mordant or etching solution can also be used to remove lines and to even out the surface of plates. [polishing].
If one wishes to have a clear and precise impression the burr left behind by the graver should be cut at its base so that the plate surface remains even. The entire plate must then be repolished w it h a very fine abrasive mixed with oil making sure that the polishing is perfectly plane all over the plate.
This polishing may be done with very fine carborundum paper fixed to a little block. This prevents the abrasive from penetrating the lines and rounding off the upper edges [abrasive subtances].
If a line engraver wishes his plate to last for a great number of impressions or if he wants to protect it from scratches he must have it steelfaced [steelfacing]. In any case all finished plates must be protected with a layer of varnish when they are not in use even if they are steelfaced. Finally, the plate should be wrapped up carefully before it is put away.

E . STEEL CUTS. Engravings on steel were often done in the past because of the resistance of this metal and because of the precision of the cut or etched lines [steel]. The invention of steelfacing robbed the steel cut of its superiority but some engravers continue to prefer steel plates for their dry and hard precision. In commercial line engraving copper plates are only used for printing vlsiting cards since these cards are printed in small quantities. Letter headings, marks, relief cards, etc. are usually printed in large quantities and several times over, thus putting great stress on. the block. For such printing copper is not at all suitable and therefore steel plates are used.
Industrial and commercial engraving on steel is done by hand or with a machine called a pantograph or engraving machine. Machines are usually used for the engraving of letters or numbers. Often the machine is only used to engrave the preparatory drawing. This machine has a kind of dry point that scratches through a ground covering the plate. The plate is then etched and the work is then completed by hand using a graver. The drawings made by machines with a diamond tip are very fine and precise and the etching process respects this precision. The work done with a kind of drilling machine is quite different. The drill has to be continually sharpened so that the line it cuts maintains a constant depth and width. The engraver's task is of the utmost importance after the plate has been etched and only experienced line engravers can cope with this type of specialized work. In large workshops the various jobs are done by different people. Even the engravers themselves may be specialized: some will cut letters while others will cut figures.
The cutting of steel pates is done with gravers. Flat (chisel) gravers are used if the line needs to have a flat and wide bottom. Point gravers may also be used if the line is meant to have a bit of a "trough" for rounded reliefs. Graver work on steel plates (which are usually hard or even very hard) is slow and difficult and the graver needs to be constantly resharpened. Furthermore, corrections are he long and difficult. First of all the plate is hard to scrape and secondly the dips caused by scrapings cannot be allowed. In manual steel engraving a slight dip can be wiped out without too much difficutly if one is careful. Since the plates are never thicker than 3 mm (.12 in) they can be knocked up with a hammer.
In industrial engraving, on the other hand, the plates are at least 1cm (.4 in) thick and the wiping blades of the mechanical presses cannot wipe the dips clean, especially if the first blade is a metal one. There is, however, one way of knocking industrial plates up: drill a hole from the back within one or two te millimiters of the plate surface and then hammer the thin layer that is left.
The engraving of stamps and of bank notes also uses line engraving techniques, but, due to the fineness and precision this type of work requires it must be done with the help of a magnifying glass.

2. WORK AREA AND MATERIALS

3. ENGRAVING A PLATE (top of this page)

4. PRINTING A LINE ENGRAVING