I hope I picked the right place to ask this question.
Book illustration in 1895 — was Lithograph the default printing method for images at that time? The only other method I can think of would be etching and it’s easy to see whether there is a plate mark or not.
Engraved woodblock relief printing was probably the most widely used technique for printing illustrations. Etchings and lithographs were also used but less commonly.
Thanks black and white!
The engraved block illustrations would be easy to identify as such. So I’m guessing that if it isn’t a block or an etching then it has to be a litho — right?
Could you post a close-up photo of the illustration?
There were also various photographic techniques available in the 19th century. Block engravings can have extremely fine detail and multi-block printing can produce images like litho or other techniques, so sometimes it may not be easy to say what technique has been used.