solid, or in stripes of various of thickness, allowing for changes in hue. According to Gascoigne, 19th century chromoxylographs are identified by embossing on the back of the paper, distinctly delineated outlines, created by pressing the paper against the engraved blocks, and the presence of crosshatchings. He writes that "an impossibly and perfect and delicate area of crosshatching will suggest at first that the graver could not possibly have scooped out such small and regular interstices, but on closer inspection the lines in the two directions will be found to be of slightly different colours." Because the process was inexpensive, and commonly used to illustrate covers of inexpensive books such as mysteries and romances ("yellow backs" or "dime store novels") or magazines, and in rare instances, newspaper covers, complicated colour combinations generally were not necessary. Most often the printer only used primary colors and black. The inexpensive technique of chromoxylography allowed publishers and printers to design covers as an attraction to purchase the book. The process was also used to produce higher quality children's books and toy books. Evans considered full colour printing a technique well-suited to the simple illustrations in children's books. Evans reacted against crudely coloured children's book illustrations, which he believed could be beautiful and inexpensive if the print run was large enough to maintain the costs. In doing so, Evans collaborated with Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldecott. Books illustrated by Kate Greenaway, Walter Crane and Randolph Caldecott, engraved and printed by Evans, became popular and remain as classic examples of illustrations for children's literature. Chromoxylography was additionally used to illustrate natural history books and to reproduce paintings. To achieve realistic reproductions an engraver often used 12 or more colour blocks. Gallery Examples of chromoxylography Detail of a chromoxylograph References Sources Fraser, Tom and Adam Banks. Designer's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Color Theory and Application. (2004). Chronicle Books. Hardie, Martin. English Coloured Books. (1906). New York: Putnam Gascoigne, Bamber. How to Identify Prints. (1986) New York: Thames and Hudson. McNair, John R. "Chromolithography and Color Woodblock: Handmaidens to Nineteenth Century Children's Literature. Children's Literature Association Quarterly. Volume 11, Number 4, Winter 1986-1987, pp. 193–197 Pankow, David. Tempting the palette: a survey of colour printing processes (2005). Rochester NY:Rochester Institute of Technology. Ray, Gordon Norton. The Illustrator and the book in England from 1790 to 1914. (1991) New York: Dover. Further reading Lundin, Anne.