Engraved on Steel

Engraved on Steel places the ancient art of engraving on metal into the wider context of its beginnings, its development during the 19th century and its use outside the British Isles.Steel engraving was developed more fully in Britain than in Europe during the 19th century, with most of the innovations undertaken by Charles Heath and the many engravers then working in London. This new expertise spread quickly to Germany, to France (taken by English engravers working in Paris), to The Netherlands about 1830, and later on to Switzerland and other places in Europe. The close links with America through Jacob Perkins were cemented by the arrival of British engravers during the first half of the century.This study explores areas such as note, map, stamp, and book plate engraving, mezzotint and aquatint, the casing of books and most present day usage. The main focus of the book is on engraving and engravers but Basil Hunnisett also describes the context of their work: the artists, the print industry, paper manufacture and publishing. He describes the activities of print publishers, including the Art Unions and provides a review of steel engraving in Europe and America.Engraved on Steel follows on from Steel-Engraved Book Illustration in England which was published by Scolar Press in 1980 and is now out of print.