These are the books I looked at for background on what Woodblock printing actually is. I had originally crafted the gallery around images from these books...unfortunately I couldn't find most of them online and I recreated my gallery selection.
Books:
Farmer, Jane. American Prints from Wood: An Exhibition of Woodcuts and Wood Engravings. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, D.C. 1975
A small volume filled with examples of western woodblock printing. Essentially an expanded showguide for an exhibition held at the Smithsonian Institute in the 1970's. The introduction had lots of information about the western development of the craft.
Fern, Alex. The Wood and the Graver. Crown Publishers, New York. 1977
Large coffee table book featuring the biography and collected works of artist Fritz Eichenburg (who I featured in my show). The end of the book gave a nice explanation, as well as photographs, about Eichenburg's process of creating a woodblock. Beautiful full page illustrations-- great to see the intricate detail of his work, which can sometimes get lost on fuzzy online pictures.
Gregson, Wilson. A Student's Guide to Wood Engraving. B.T. Batsford, LTD, London. 1953
First half of the book talks about the history of Woodblock printing coming to America (1st printer in America was Dr. Anderson in1793). Gregson also talks a lot about Bewick, who considered a master of the craft. Bewick invented the "white line style" as well as crosshatching. He did a lot of people and animals rather than landscapes so I didn't feature any of his work in my show.
Illing, Richard. The Art of Japanese Prints. John Calmann and Cooper, LTD, London. 1980
Mostly used this to look at various prints. Didn't end up using the ones that I marked, but I got a nice sense of the ukiyo-e style.
Mannering, Douglas. Great Works of Japanese Graphic Art. Shooting Star Press, New York. 1995
This little book was awesome. Featured a great introduction on the Japanese style of woodblock printing. Beautiful color illustrations. Lots of information on the "masters" of this style.
Smith, Henry (II). Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. George Braziller, Inc. Publishers, New York. 1988
Information on Hokusai. Only skimmed through it. Illustrations weren't in color. This is where I got the information for his biography though. The rest of the artists I used websites.
Websites (artists biographies):
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hiroshige/
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