Zes proefdrukken voor 'Kate Greenaway's Almanack for 1892' before 1891

These six proofs for Kate Greenaway’s Almanack for 1892 were made by Edmund Evans, one of the leading wood engravers and colour printers of his day. Wood engraving is a relief printing process, where the image is carved into the end-grain of a block of wood. Evans specialized in chromoxylography - color printing from wood blocks. Each color requires a separate block, and painstaking registration to achieve the final image. The resulting prints, like these, could achieve a remarkable subtlety of tone. But remember the labor involved. Each impression represents hours of skilled work. Evans employed a large workshop of engravers and printers, and their collective effort made possible the democratization of images in the late 19th century. In this case, it delivered the charm and innocence of Greenaway’s vision to a wide audience. It is a reminder that the beauty we see on the surface of things often has complex production processes, with significant social implications, behind the scenes.