The whole world in wood and copper

For roughly four centuries before the invention of photography, prints made with woodcuts or copper plates were the main means of transmitting images. Yet the history of prints lags far behind those of books and art, which share so much in common with it. For historians of the book, the print has only been interesting in so far as it illustrates or decorates a book. For historians of art, the print has often seemed an inferior and derivative genre. Only the greatest printmakers have attracted mu