HOW the engraver shall set about his work; what method to pursue from first to last; nay, first how to fit himself to become an engraver. A child may begin with carving his name, or by attempting to cut any few lines drawn for him on the block of wood. But a Manual is not intended for a child: rather is it for one too old or without opportunity to be under the supervision and continual instruction given to an apprentice. And to such an one, young man or woman, boy or girl, I would most distinctly and emphatically say: Do not begin with mechanism! Begin with a desire for art—to be an artist! Let no would-be engraver be content to become a mechanic! The days of mere mechanism in wood-cutting are numbered. Some one of the many processes for the reprodnction of fac-simile drawing will assuredly take the place of the work of the wood-cutter. Already, I think, fac-simile work is done better, and at less cost, without the intervention of the “engraver.” It is only the art, the artistic part of engraving, that is still worth our attention.

That artistic part is drawing with the graver. Learn, then, first to draw: to see form, and, after earnest endeavour, to be able to express it in the easiest way, by charcoal or chalk or pencil upon paper. It is much easier to learn to draw in this way than to learn to draw with the graver.