Commercial Wood Engraving

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© 1997 – 16 May 2023

The Legacy Press

Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

Books about the Printing, Paper, and Bookbinding Arts

Commercial Wood Engraving in the 20th Century

James Horton

Jim Horton has been practicing the art and craft of wood engraving for more than 40 years. His mentor was David M. Sander (1923–1999) of the Sander Engraving Co., one of most well-known of the commercial engravers whose work was featured in mail-order catalogs, such as those published by Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward. The commercial side of the Sander business closed in 1971, and after David's death, Horton transferred the company archive – business documents, blocks, proofs, and equipment – to his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to preserve it.

While this book surveys the history of wood engraving from the work of early 19th-century English wood engraver, Thomas Bewick, to that practiced in the U.S. in the 20th century, the focus is on the Sander Co.

Contents:

Preface and Acknowledgments

Foreword by Judith Jaidinger, RE (Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers)

Introduction

Chapter 1. Defining a Wood Engraving

Chapter 2. History of Wood Engraving as It Pertains to Commercial Engraving

Chapter 3. The Commercial Wood Engraver

Chapter 4. The Tools and Specialized Processes of the Wood Engraver

Chapter 5. The Sander Engraving Company

Chapter 6. David Sander

Plates of Product Proofs

The text is augmented by many examples of blocks and proofs in full color, and more than 114 pages of proofs of Sander Co. wood engravings cover a variety of subjects including cameras, food, hardware, and sporting goods.