Pair of Hand- Colored French Garden Engravings by Laborge Printed in 1818

Print engraving is an artform that’s been around since the 15th century, but the actual method of engraving is an ancient one. With print engraving, which was used in art reproduction, a soft metal plate is used, typically copper, and the design is engraved into the metal using a special tool called a “burin.” A burin is a steel rod that’s sharpened diagonally at one end to create a controllable cutting edge.

Engravers use the burin to cut an image into the metal using a series of lines of varying width and depth. The length and depth of the lines helps to create different tones and shades. Deep lines will hold more ink than shallow ones, which produces a darker tone when printed.

Engraving tends to create a hard, thin line which creates crisp edges and sharp details that are hard to achieve with other printing methods.