Wood engraving and the illustration of American surgical texts during the nineteenth century.

Abstract

Wood engraving as a medium of book illustration emerged at the end of the eighteenth century. In spite of its immediate technical and economic advantages to publishers of medical and surgical books, engraving on metal continued to dominate book illustration until the fourth decade of the nineteenth century. This study examines the two phenomena principally responsible for propelling wood engraving to the forefront of surgical book illustration, ie., the emergence of the mass-circulation illustrated periodical, and the use of wood engraving in the illustration of British surgical texts post-1840, the source of most surgical literature published in the United States until the 1860s. This study also examines the use of wood engraving in surgical book illustration after the universal acceptance of the medium by American publishers.