A Number of artists practising the art of wood engraving, have formed themselves into a Society for the purpose of holding Exhibitions from time to time.

Membership of the Society is confined to those who use the European method of wood engraving. This method, distinguished from the Japanese or Eastern method by the fact that prints are obtained by means of the printing-press, is more suitable to the tradition and temperament of European artists, and is of greater utility in connection with book production and decoration.

Decoration (a word formerly always prefixed by the word “mere”) is now returning to its right place at the head of artistic activities. In a decoration the artist is forced to consider the actual beauty of his work, and only secondly the beauty of the story or scene depicted. And as the bootmaker, however useful he may be as a voter, is as a workman primarily a maker of footwear, so the artist, however useful he may be as a story-teller is, as an artist, primarily a maker of things of beauty and not things of sentiment.