Topic: Library of books on woodblock printmaking

Note: The Encyclopedia is in the middle of a major renovation, with the page designs being completely renewed and updated. So you will encounter a mix of old and new as you browse through, which may be quite confusing. Hopefully, it won't take too long to finish the job ...

Over the years, there have been a number of books written about the art and craft of woodblock printmaking, but as they have hardly fallen into the category of 'best-sellers', they soon went out of print, and are now exceedingly difficult to find. It is sometimes possible to turn up one of these volumes through an Internet search, but even when one is located, it is inevitably priced as a 'collector's item', and the contents thus remain inaccessible to the typical woodblock printmaker.

I have managed to accumulate a small library of these rare volumes, and am one-by-one scanning them in, and uploading them to this web site. Except as otherwise noted, all of these on-line editions contain the complete original text and all illustrations.

Here is the list of volumes currently available. Others will be added as they become known to me (and as copyrights expire, making their addition permissible).

Some of these books are also available as complete downloadable pdf files. See the Mokuhankan website.

Woodcut Printmaking (on the plank ...)

Japanese Wood-cutting and Wood-cut Printing
- T. Tokuno, Smithsonian Institution 1894

Chats on Japanese Prints (in preparation ... partial text)
- A. Davison Ficke, London 1915

Woodblock Printing - by the Japanese Method (eBook available)
- F. Morley Fletcher, London 1916

Tools and Materials Illustrating the Japanese Method of Colour-Printing
- Edward F. Strange, London 1924

Colour Printing with Linoleum and Wood Blocks
- A. W. Seaby, Leicester 1925

Colour Block Prints
- Hesketh Hubbard, London 1934

Japanese Wood-Block Printing (eBook available)
- Hiroshi Yoshida, Tokyo 1939

Hiroshi Yoshida: Print-Maker
- Ben Bruce Blakeney, Tokyo 1950

The Making of Japanese Prints (excerpts)
- Chie Hirano, Boston 1939

The Relief Print (excerpts)
- Watson & Kent, New York 1945

Woodcuts and Wood Engravings, How I Make Them
- H. A. Mueller, New York 1945

Colour Woodcuts (eBook available)
- John Platt, London 1948

Wood Engraving (on the end grain ...)

Wood Engraving
- R.J. Beedham, London 1921

Woodcuts and Some Words (excerpts)
- E.G. Craig, London 1923

A Woodcut Manual
- J.J. Lankes, New York 1932

The Relief Print (excerpts)
- Watson & Kent, New York 1945

Woodcuts and Wood Engravings, How I Make Them
- H. A. Mueller, New York 1945

In the collection, and proposed for inclusion:

Treatise on Wood-Engraving (excerpts)
- Jackson & Chatto, London 1839
How to Make Japanese Color Prints
- Yoshikawa, Yokohama, 1935
Japanese Wood Engravings (excerpts)
- W. Andersen, London 1895
Colour Printing and Colour Prints (excerpts)
- R.M.Burch, 1910
Colour Block Print Making
- Hesketh Hubbard, Boston 1927
The Modern Woodcut
- H. Furst, London 1924
The Woodcut: An Annual (4 volumes)
- H. Furst, London 1927~
Nishiki-e no Hori to Suri (The carving and printing of nishiki-e)
- Tokyo 1929
Block-Cutting and Print-Making by Hand
- M. Dobson, London 1930
Print: A Quarterly Journal (extracts)
- Ed. Wm. Rudge, New Haven 1940~41
A History of Wood Engraving (excerpts)
- Douglas Percy Bliss, London 1928
Wood Engraving and Woodcuts
- Clare Leighton, London 1932
Masters of the Color-print (series)
- M.C. Salaman, London (various years)
The Modern Color-print
- M. Salaman, London
The Baren (in translation from the Japanese)
-Tokyo, 1973

In the collection, but copyright issues make their inclusion on the website impractical ...

The Technique of the Color Wood-cut
- Walter J. Phillips, New York 1926
How Prints Look
- Wm. Ivins, Boston 1943
A Student's Guide to Wood Engraving
- W. Gregson, London 1953
John Baptist Jackson: 18th Century Master of the Color Woodcut
- Jacob Kainen, Washington 1962
The Craft of Woodcuts
- John R. Biggs, 1963
Printmaking
- H. Frankenfield, 1964
Japanese Print-Making
- T. Yoshida and R. Yuki, Tokyo 1966
Introducing Woodcuts
- G. Woods, London 1968
Woodblock Printing
- T. Tokuriki, Tokyo 1968
The Woodblock Engravers
- Kenneth Lindley, Newton Abbot, 1970
Woodblock Print Primer
- T. Tokuriki, Tokyo 1970
History of Wood Engraving
- A. Garrett, London 1978
Woodcut Printmaking
- W. Chamberlain, London 1978
Wood Engraving, an Adventure in Printmaking
- David M. Sander, New York 1978
Woodcut
- David L. Oravez, New York 1992

The final list is of volumes that have yet to be located for the collection (in an affordable copy):

Woodcuts, the practice of Engraving and Cutting upon Wood
- Douglas Percy Bliss
Practical Hints on Decorative Printing
- W. Savage 1819~22
A Few Hints on Colour and Printing in Colour
- F.B. Watt 1872
The Principles and Practice of Colour Printing
- F. Noble 1881
Wood Engraving, a Manual of Instruction
- W.J. Linton, London 1884
English Wood Engraving, 1900-1950
- T. Balston, London 1951
The Way of Wood Engraving
- Dorothea Braby, The Studio, London 1953
Artistic Japan (excerpts)
- Siegfried Bing, 1888
Relief Printmaking
- Gerald F. Brommer, Worcester 1970
Block Prints, How to Make Them
- W. S. Rice, Milwaukee 1941
Student's Book of Wood Engraving
- Iain Macnab, New York 1938
An Introduction to a History of the Woodcut
- A.M. Hind, Dover, New York, 1963
Linoleum Block Printing
- Francis J. Kafka, Dover, New York, 1972
Your Wood-Engraving
- Mark F. Severin, London 1953
Wood-Engraving
- George E. Mackley, London 1948
Wood Engraving
- I. Macnab, Pitman, London, 1947
Linoleum Block Printing
- Ernest W. Watson, Springfield 1929
Woodcut Printing in Water-colors
- The Studio, London 1894
The Original Color-print Magazine
- W. Giles, London 1924, 1925, 1926
An Essay on the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro Oscuro
- Mr. Jackson, Battersea 1754
Linocuts and Woodcuts: A Complete Block Printing Handbook
- Michael Rothenstein, New York, 1964
 Colour Prints from Wood-blocks
- W.J. Phillips, 1926 (A different book from his 'Technique'?)
Complete Manual of Relief Printmaking, A Practical Guide to the Tools and Techniques of Lino Cutting, Wood Cutting, and Wood Engraving
- Katie Clemson and Rosemary Simmons, 1988
Printmaking Step By Step
- Rosemary Simmons
Relief Printing
- Michael Rothenstein, Watson-Guptill, New York, 1970

If anyone has any information on one of these latter books, I would greatly appreciate hearing about it ...

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