Engraving was the term for setting musical scores in type for printing
and publication. It was done in a variety of ways from actually
engraving on a metal plate to musical typewriters. It was a very tedious
and expensive process and required skilled craftspeople to make the
engravings. As a result, a lot of music was never published or only
published as reproductions of a copyists manuscripts and also
contributed to the high cost of printed music. In later years engraving
was often done overseas where labor was cheaper. In the digital age this
is now done with software such as a Sibelius of Finale, but the term
engraving persists even though I doubt anybody actually engraves music
these days.

Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_engraving) and Don Krummel's book
Music Printing and Publishing is the classic reference in the history of
music publishing.

David Seubert
UCSB

Lou Judson wrote:

> Simple, possibly ignorant question - what is meant by "digital
> engraving" here? New term for me. Are you having the manuscripts
> engraved in pewter, or what?
>
> Lou Judson • Intuitive Audio
> 415-883-2689
>
> On May 10, 2006, at 9:51 AM, Jon Becker wrote:
>
>> The Collins project aims to restore the composer's music legacy, with a
>> priority on digital engraving and recording of all the music.
>