The woodcut was the earliest and most versatile form of printed illustration. In execution it was simple. The artist would draw the illustration (backward) on a wooden plank and then cut away all the parts that were not meant to print. When the surviving high parts were inked and pressed onto paper, the desired image would appear. Because this method of relief printing was identical to that of type, words and pictures could be set up in the same form and printed all at once. Woodcuts can be identified by their characteristic lines-thick and of uneven width-and the "squash" of the ink at the edge of the line.
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