ENGRAVED WOOD BLOCK PRINTING BOOK , BASED ON "THE PHOTOCOPY OF CHINESE SONG DYNASTY THE COLLECTION OF HU TANG POEM ORPHAN BOOK (1919)" Engraving master Yishi Chen signature and marking, based on 1919s photocopy book of thien graved wood block printing with the water plants paper, Framed by hands, accordion binding ¡°The photocopy of Chinese Song dynasty the collection of Hu Tang Poem orphan book (1919)" The technique of printing with carved wood blocks appeared about the 7th century, early in the Tang dynasty. Block printing reached its golden age during the Song dynasty, in the years 960-1279. The text was first written on a piece of thin paper, then glued face down onto a wooden plate.The wood block is carefully prepared as a relief pattern, which means the areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife, chisel, or sandpaper leaving the characters or image to show in 'black' at the original surface level. The block was cut along the grain of the wood. It is necessary only to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. The content would of course print "in reverse" or mirror-image, a further complication when text was involved. The characters were carved out to make a wood-block printing plate, which was used to print the text. Wood-block printing took a long time as a new block had to be carved for every page in a book. Ancient red printing refers to the engraving printing books had just carved version, for the first time printing book's words or pictures with vermilion, the purpose is use for printing proofread.Because first printing, engraving no wear and tear, so the handwriting is most clear and reflect the quality of engraving. The art of carving the woodcut is technically known as xylography, though the term is rarely used in English. Measure: Height 2.06", Width 7.13",Length 13" Domestic shipping (48 states) : $59.95.