Etching versus copperplate engraving
The comparison of the etching needle with the burin is the comparison of the pen with the plough. In one case a finely-pointed obedient to every movement of the sentient hand – in the other a tool driven by the elbow against an object brought to meet it half way; in one case suppleness, liberty, prapidity and directness of utterance (…) – in the other, the combined action of two hands and the active opposition of two forces – that of the instrument against the plate, and of the plate against the instrument.
Seymoure Haden, About Etching, 3rd. Edition, London, 1878-1879, S. 10-13.
