Comprehensive handbook covers materials and equipment, tools, printing papers, presses, and other essentials. Detailed instructions for etching, engraving, drypoint, collagraphs, tuilegraphs, and the Blake transfer method.

Arranged in self-contained sections the book simplifies accurate identification of any printed image. Included are manual methods, and also the mechanical processes that constitute the vast majority of printed images. Essential aspects of printing history and the printmaking craft are covered and examples are given of the identifying features that help to reveal the type of print.

Sung closely examines William Blake’s extant engraved copper plates and arrives at a new interpretation of his working process. Sung suggests that Blake revised and corrected his work more than was previously thought. This belies the Romantic ideal that the acts of conception and execution are simultaneous in the creative process.