1879 Antique Print of an Octopus or Devil-Fish

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

1879 Antique Print of an Octopus or Devil-Fish:
$7.99

The print is a small illustration from \"The Popular Science Monthly,\" published by D. Appleton in New York in 1879.

The print is a wood engraving. It was printed with an engraved wood block (see definition below).

The print is matted in a 7 X 5 inch mat and is ready to be framed in a standard size 7 X 5 inch frame.

The mat opening measures 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 inches.

The sheet is in good condition aside from light age toning and being trimmed on the edges.

The image is titled : \"Fig. 1. - Octopus or Devil-Fish (Octopus vulgaris.).\"

There is text printed on the reverse side.

Please see the scans included with the description for condition and feel free to ask any questions.
**The cropped scan is greatly enlarged to show detail.**

This is an antique print guaranteed to be over 125 years old. It is not a modern re-print.

Buyer to pay $3.75 postage and handling in US. International at cost - shipping calculated by location. * I will combine shipping with other items that can be mailed flat. * For combined shipping, please add all of the items to your cart before paying.

I accept Pay Pal as payment.

Thank you for looking.

Wood engravings are a form of relief printmaking. They start as a block of wood that would make a solid shape if printed. Areas of wood are cut away to leave the final image. Two other common types of relief printmaking are the woodcut and linoprint. The wood engraving block is cut across the end grain of the block. In this they differ from the side grain blocks made for woodcuts. The depth of the block is normally \"type high\" and links wood-engraving to its history of illustration, when blocks and type would have been set together to print a page. Wood Engraving tool developed from metal engraving tools. When the image has been engraved onto the block ink is applied to its surface with a roller, paper is laid across the surface and pressure is applied with a printing press or burnishing tool. As the nineteenth century progressed, wood engraving was used increasingly in periodicals. It was a practical means of illustration because, unlike steel- and copper- plate engraving, wood engraving did not have to be printed separately on a single leaf. Instead, engravings could be integrated with text and on both sides of a leaf. This was helpful in pictorial reporting, where printers could incorporate engravings with a particular story on the same page. The Illustrated London News, Punch, and Harper\'s were just a few of the periodicals that avidly utilized wood engraving. They normally used it to illustrate news stories and to depict works of art. Engraving was also used for political cartoons, as those in Punch. In the late 1800s, it was replaced by photographic processes.