It is distinct from writing, and also from wood-engraving or xylography, which is the art of cutting figures, letters, words, andc., on blocks of wood and taking impressions from such blocks by means of ink, or any other fluid coloured substance, on paper or vellum.
The earliest known date of the former is 1446 on the small engravings of " the Passion " in the Berlin Royal Print Room, whereas the earliest known date of wood-engraving is 1418 (on the Brussels Mary engraving).
When all this writing, transcribing, illustrating, andc., had reached their period of greatest development, the art of printing from wooden blocks (block-printing, xylography) on silk, cloth, vellum, paper, andc., made its appearance in Europe.
Xylography, the most ancient and less sophisticated technique of engraving, passed through all kind of hazards along its history.
Carved wood renders an additional charge to the xylographic image, which perhaps is due to the contrast of planes, to the thick line and to the traces of the gouge on the wood.
On watching a xylography it is impossible not to imagine the engraver currying out the cutting, making efforts to give precision to a line, hewing what will be a white plane or to see the wood shavings falling down to the floor.
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