The term “invention” is often used in referring to the origin of printing and of engraving, as though these devices had come into being quite suddenly,--overnight, as it were. The belief is prevalent, indeed, that one man in Mayence originated, developed, perfected, established printing, and that another man in Florence originated printing from engraved plates about that same time (middle of the fifteenth century). If we look more closely into these subjects, it becomes evident that Dame Tradition has flashed the light of fame upon one link only, of a chain of achievements which stretches back into the unknown. She has clothed one man, call him Gutenberg, call him Finiguerra, with the sum of thought and attainment which had preceded them, that the _achievement_ might gain added impressiveness. The printing-press, and printing from movable type, had reached a state of high perfection at the time when Gutenberg printed his epoch-making Bibles, and research has substantiated the belief that a period of experiment and development _must_ have preceded and led up to such excellence, although these early days of printing still baffle the ingenuity of research. The genesis of printing from engraved plates is equally difficult to establish, though the claim of invention by any one man is as little admissible here as in the other instance. It is a matter of gradual development. Remember, it is the _printing_ from engraved plates which concerns us in our inquiry. Engraving as a means of decorating metal surfaces dates back to remote antiquity, but that is foreign to our present subject. Only when engraving is used as a means of _reproducing_ a design, does it enter within our sphere of interest. Similarly are we concerned to a certain extent with the wood-block method used in the days of Byzance, for stamping patterns upon cloth, because it is the parent of our woodcut. We have here, however, a device used for the decoration of textile fabrics, and we must reserve our interest for the time when _the design printed from the wood block_, upon paper or any other suitable carrier of an impression, becomes the essential consideration.