A wood engraving is a method of relief printing very similar to a woodcut. A wood engraving is done with a very hard piece of wood, making it much harder to carve, but allowing for a print with much greater detail than a woodcut to be created.
Wood engravings have generally been used to make higher quality images than woodcuts. They can be identified by the extremely rich black tones, contrasting a background that lacks ink, and by the high level of detail not present in woodcut prints. Wood engravings are used today in limited edition books done by private presses.