On Sunday, June 30, 2002, The Book Arts League accepted a generous donation of wood engraving equipment from Diane Wray of Englewood, Colorado. The collection includes about 20 carved blocks, scores of wood engraving tools, 2 books and an almost complete Kelsey Press. To read about the historic Sander wood engraving firm and the background of Ms Wray’s donation to the BAL, please visit --> HERE.

Wood Engravings, Books, and Tools will be on exhibit in the Main Lobby of the Lafayette Public Library throughout the month of March

    

The wood engraving tools are a wonderful resource. There is a great variety of shapes and sizes in this collection and they will enable the Book Arts League to offer educational exhibits and hands-on workshops dealing with a craft that was once the principal means of book and periodical illustration before photoengraving.

In the nineteenth century, there were thousands of working wood engravers in the United States alone. Today, this technique is practiced as a fine art and for the illustration of limited edition books.

The blocks, which were made by the Sander engraving firm, feature a charming array of commercial cuts ranging from a giant ballpoint pen, a tire, a car, to, in the enlarged detail above, a hair dryer. These finely-engraved blocks illustrate the period in which wood engraving survived into the 20th century primarily as a medium for product and catalog illustration because of its crispness and its ability to portray the pure black and white tones that are muddied by the halftone process.

In addition to the wood engraving items, the League also acquired a nice set of carving tools for face-grain woodcuts. 
PHOTO by Laura Tyler, who helped with the preparation of this article.