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From about 1430 some block books had been produced that were printed from single wood-engraved blocks. These were composed mainly of illustration with a few lines of explanatory text. They were intended as a cheap substitute for the illuminated manuscripts of the day, but are the first know use in Europe of wood-engraving to produce illustrations for books. Examples include "Biblia Pauperum" and the "Sepculum Humanae Salvationis" [the later first printed in 1450]. The introduction of movable type rapidly replaced the block books and liberated text from having to be cut letter by letter in the place on the pages where they were to appear. From then on blocks were for illustration, not for text.
Perhaps the earliest book illustrator we know of is Erhart Ruewick who provided the illustrations and cut the wood blocks for "Pereginations in Terram Sanctam" by Breydenbach [1486]. The book is an account of their travels in Palestine. Soon the demand for printed books with illustrations, lead to the establishment of workshops where artist who were also trained as printers and engravers could produce the blocks needed. Amongst the most famous of these were [with some examples of their work]:
Albrecht Dürer: wood-engraving of Maximilliam I
Albrecht Altdorfer: "Luxemburg" from "The Triumph of Maximillian I" 1526
Hans Holbein: four cuts from "The Dance of Death" 1538
Their woodblock engravings count amongst some of the finest ever produced. A collector would be lucky indeed to posses even one sheet from any of these beautifully illustrated books, however, modern facsimiles do exist, as do many books containing copies of the illustrations.
From about the mid sixteenth century, the adoption of intaglio printing methods using copper plates, soon lead to wood-engraving becoming a lesser form of illustration used for cheaper books, and so the standards rapidly deteriorated. Speed of production and durability of the blocks became more important than the artistry of the illustrations or the fineness of the engraving.