X-Book

Ink Paper Chisel Grain

Click Buy to Log in and see personalised pricing.

Send as a gift Get in the xigxag app
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

A dazzling journey through 500 years of art, ideas and human imagination, told through one of the most enduring and versatile artistic mediums ever created - the woodcut.

At its simplest, a woodcut begins with a piece of wood, a cutting tool, ink and paper. Yet from these humble materials artists have created some of the most powerful images in human history. In Ink Paper Chisel Grain, artist and printmaker Paul Coldwell invites us into intimate encounters with the works and makers who transformed woodcut from a practical technology into a vehicle for beauty, revolution, protest and wonder.

Travelling across centuries and continents, Coldwell guides us from Albrecht Dürer’s apocalyptic visions and Hokusai's Great Wave to Käthe Kollwitz's searing anti-war prints and the monumental contemporary works of William Kentridge. Along the way we meet artists, printers, collectors, curators and craftsmen; step inside museums, archives and studios; and discover how a simple process of cutting into wood helped shape the visual culture of the modern world.

Part history, part travelogue, part meditation on art and making, Ink Paper Chisel Grain reveals how woodcut has survived every technological revolution thrown at it, celebrating the enduring human impulse to leave a mark.


© Paul Coldwell 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

Paul Coldwell is one of Britain’s most distinguished printmakers . . . in this beautifully illustrated book he sets out to show how the humble woodcut, which uses the simple elements of ink, paper and wood, has forged a central role in the history of art . . . Coldwell has produced a fascinating account of the hidden history of the woodcut . . . There is no doubting his passionate belief in the power of a woodcut to stir primal emotions in artist and viewer alike
Sunday Times
Author Paul Coldwell
Narrator Paul Coldwell
Duration 8 hours and 38 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781405975056
Format Audiobook
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Genre Decorative arts, History of art, History: specific events and topics, Prints and printmaking, Traditional trades, crafts and skills
Availability AU, GB, IE

About xigxag

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.