What is this type of old school drawing called?

[markay23 Profile]

I especially adore the coziness and look of this type of drawing found in old books and anything

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Various-Ita ... 00x457.jpg

And I've been wondering what is this style called and what did the artists use to create it. Thank you very much!

[AlienJay Profile]

Hmm.. its quite nice. This seems to be ''Art Nouveau'' in Pen and Ink style.

[Anderson Profile]

It's an example of woodcut printing, a common illustrative technique before the era of modern printing presses and photographic or digital reproduction. The style is called Baroque.

At least, that's my immediate reaction. Looks like a wood cut. The figures leads me to believe this is an example of wood relief printing from a couple hundred years back or longer. I'll say 1700's. This is likely a reproduction of a woodcut print. Dover Publishing reproduces a great many examples of early illustration in soft cover books, books which were enormously popular when computer graphics were still in their infancy.

Dropped capital letters were often ornate inside and out, as is this one.