L. Roy Davies was born in Sydney in 1897. The works reproduced in this book, particularly those done in the 1920s, strongly evoke a feeling of the period. Craftsmanship, and a high degree of technical skill, is evident in the wood engraving of L Roy Davies. Very few of his contemporaries attained such mastery in the medium (a notable exception being Sir Lionel Lindsay), and certainly there is no artist today producing comparable prints.

A wood engraving is made by incising lines with a tool in the end grain of a hard wood block, while a woodcut is made by cutting the image with a knife on a plank of softwood. The distinction has long been a source of controversy amongst those interested in the medium, but close perusal will enable the reader to readily identify the two variations of this type of relief printing.

Odana Editions has published a number of books on Australian artists including Frank Hinder, L. Roy Davies and Vincent Brown although is more often recognised as the publisher of books on Norman Lindsay. Apart from the visual arts, author and editor Lin Bloomfield's other major interests include world politics, archaeology and travel. In 1973 Lin founded Bloomfield Galleries in Sydney, first at Crows Nest and then in Paddington from 1975 to 1994. In 1995 the gallery operated from premises in North Sydney and in 2000 moved to Bungendore, New South Wales. Lin has served on several arts boards including the Board of Governors, New South Wales Institute of the Arts and the Advisory Board of the National Trust Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum. In 1989 she was awarded a Fellowship of the New South Wales Institute of the Arts in recognition of her 'outstanding contribution to Education and the Arts'.

Books on this page are for sale from Odana Editions. To order, please click here.