In January 1859, when he was still thirteen, Crane entered his three-year apprenticeship to wood engraver Linton at the height of that craft's popularity. What he found was a busy shop where workers cut the drawings into the end grain of boxwood blocks for illustrations in popular magazines and books. Many of these engravers were deaf and dumb, and to speed the process the block was often cut in sections, with one craftsman doing the background while a more experienced or skillful man might do the faces. Crane was hired to draw directly upon the ends of scraps of the boxwood, using a clean sharp line that could be cut accurately. In his memoirs Crane mentions his various tasks in Linton's employ: drawing animals at the zoo, doing medical drawings, fixing the pictures on the wood for others, and making sketches of notorious cases in court for the popular press. He notes, "The least enjoyable work I can remember was certainly the drawing of an incredible number of iron bedsteads for a certain catalogue." There is every reason to believe that Linton liked young Crane, treated him well, and tried to encourage his artistic development.
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