This study analyzes significant moments in the development of engraving in Costa Rica. It begins with the Album of Engravings of 1934 and ends in 2000 with a brief mention of the graphic exhibitions of the end of the century and young print, which celebrated more than half a century of the history of this technique.

Throughout its pages, he examines the work of different authors, conceptualizing the importance of the technical process as the foundation of the engraver's possibilities of expression. Thus, the syntactic aspects of visual communication acquire particular relevance as axes that articulate the creator's discourses.

The analysis incorporates the presence of engraving in the editorial field as a form of survival until the foundation of the engraving career at the University of Costa Rica. From this point on, we work with the characterization of the work of three different generations of engravers.

The national engraving undergoes over the years studied, a transformation that goes from an isolated and optimistic attempt, to becoming an artistic, professional, full and mature form. During this time, the founding masters and a group of disciples in love with the expressive possibilities of engraving have built a tradition that is characterized by its adherence to the aesthetic principles of modern art and by a thematic richness that reveals the diversity of thoughts that converge in this art form.