Photo-engraving, Photo-etching, and Photo-lithography in Line and
Half-tone; Also Collotype and Heliotype; By W. T. Wilkinson, Revised
and Enlarged by Edward L. Wilson.
[Illustration: John C. Moss, Prest. R. B. Moss, Supt. M. A. Moss,
Treasurer. J. E. Ramsey, Secretary. H. A. Jackson, Asst. Secy.
Moss Engraving Co. 535 Pearl St., New York
Illustrations of every Description, FOR BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, CIRCULARS,
&c., &c.
Send green stamp for circular. Send photograph, drawing or print, for
estimate.
our Specialty. Fine Illustrated Circulars by our Moss-Type Process.]
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF “MOSS-TYPE” ENGRAVED BY THE MOSS ENGRAVING
CO., 535 PEARL STREET, NEW YORK.]
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF “MOSS-TYPE” ENGRAVED BY THE MOSS ENGRAVING
CO., 535 PEARL STREET, NEW YORK.]
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF “MOSS-TYPE” ENGRAVED BY THE MOSS ENGRAVING
CO., 535 PEARL STREET, NEW YORK.]
[Illustration: G. CRAMER, ST. LOUIS.
HALF-TONE ZINC ETCHING. (MOSSTYPE.) FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.]
PHOTO-ENGRAVING, PHOTO-ETCHING,
AND
PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY
IN LINE AND HALF-TONE;
ALSO,
COLLOTYPE AND HELIOTYPE.
BY
W. T. WILKINSON,
OF LONDON.
REVISED AND ENLARGED BY
EDWARD L. WILSON,
EDITOR OF “THE PHILADELPHIA PHOTOGRAPHER,” AUTHOR OF “WILSON’S
PHOTOGRAPHICS,” “WILSON’S QUARTER CENTURY IN PHOTOGRAPHY,”
“PHOTOGRAPHIC MOSAICS,” ETC.
AMERICAN (THIRD) EDITION.
[Illustration]
_The camera is mightier than the pen or the pencil._
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD L. WILSON,
NO. 853 BROADWAY.
1888.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1888, by
EDWARD L. WILSON,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
The many kind letters I have received from America with regard to
what must be called my first crude effort at bookmaking, prompted the
idea—after issuing a second and revised edition in England—of making an
attempt to cater for the inhabitants of Greater Britain, which, under
the able editorship of MR. EDWARD L. WILSON will, I have no doubt, meet
with approbation and be useful. I have made many important additions to
the last English edition.
W. T. WILKINSON.
LEICESTER, ENGLAND.
* * * * *
Besides revising the English edition and incorporating in proper place
such additions as I have found useful in practice, I have boiled down
the best points from current publications in France and Germany, and
added them.
More still, with high regard for the author, I add chapters and parts
from, the _Handbuch der Chemigraphie und Photochemigraphie_, by Mr. J.
O. Mörch. Thus, I believe, this work is made complete to date. All the
rest must come to the worker, from industrious, careful practice.
Very rapid progress has been made in photo-reproductive processes
during the past two years, and improvements are announced almost
weekly. I invite all interested to keep me informed of what they
discover. If I am supplied with the proper addresses I shall publish
and distribute what I learn.
EDWARD L. WILSON.
NEW YORK, May, 1888.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Reversing Mirror . . . 10
The Dark-room . . . 25
The Plate-support . . . 37
The Whirler . . . 42
The Copying Camera . . . 67
Example of Zinc Etching (low) . . . 88
Example of Zinc Etching (high) . . . 90
Example of Zinc Etching (round) . . . 92
The Caliber-bridge . . . 93
The Sieve . . . 98
The Heating Lamp . . . 98
The Washing Table . . . 98
Example of Photo-engraving . . . 117
Example of Half-tone Engraving . . . 118
The Dusting-box . . . 124
The Transfer-board . . . 141
The Drying-oven . . . 167
Support for the Drying-oven . . . 168
Jacket for the Drying-oven . . . 168
Copper Tank for the Drying-oven . . . 168
Interior plan for the Drying-oven . . . 169
A New Drying-oven . . . 174
The Universal Copying Machine . . . 178
CONTENTS.
PART I. PHOTO-ENGRAVING IN LINE.
CHAPTER I.
APPLIANCES FOR MAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES . . . 9
CHAPTER II.
THE WET COLLODION PROCESS . . . 11
CHAPTER III.
PHOTOGRAPHIC MANIPULATIONS . . . 24
CHAPTER IV.
APPARATUS FOR PRINTING UPON ZINC . . . 39
CHAPTER V.
PRINTING ON ZINC IN ALBUMEN . . . 45
CHAPTER VI.
PRINTING ON ZINC IN BITUMEN . . . 48
CHAPTER VII.
DIRECT TRANSFERS TO ZINC . . . 51
CHAPTER VIII.
ETCHING LINE TRANSFERS . . . 55
PART II. PHOTO-ENGRAVING IN HALF-TONE.
CHAPTER I.
RETROSPECTIVE . . . 63
CHAPTER II.
MAKING GRAINED NEGATIVES . . . 65
CHAPTER III.
ETCHING IN HALF-TONE . . . 69
CHAPTER IV.
PRINTING FROM THE BLOCK . . . 72
CHAPTER V.
THE TRANSFER OF THE DRAWING, AND ITS TREATMENT
BEFORE ETCHING . . . 73
CHAPTER VI.
HINTS FROM ALL SOURCES . . . 94
PART III. PHOTO-ENGRAVING ON COPPER.
CHAPTER I.
SUBJECTS IN LINE . . . 119
CHAPTER II.
HALF-TONE INTAGLIOS . . . 122
CHAPTER III.
HALF-TONE INTAGLIOS—(_Continued_) . . . 124
CHAPTER IV.
HALF-TONE INTAGLIOS. ELECTROTYPING METHODS . . . 127
PART IV. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN LINE.
CHAPTER I.
PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN LINE . . . 129
CHAPTER II.
PAPER TRANSFERS . . . 132
CHAPTER III.
PAPER TRANSFERS—(_Continued_) . . . 136
CHAPTER IV.
TOOVEY’S NEGATIVE TRANSFER PROCESS . . . 139
CHAPTER V.
PHOTO-LITHO. TRANSFERS . . . 140
PART V. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN HALF-TONE.
CHAPTER I.
PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN HALF-TONE . . . 143
CHAPTER II.
INK PHOTOS . . . 144
CHAPTER III.
HUSBAND’S PAPYROTINT PROCESS . . . 147
PART VI. COLLOGRAPHIC PRINTING.
CHAPTER I.
HALF-TONE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES . . . 151
CHAPTER II.
THE HELIOTYPE PROCESS . . . 152
CHAPTER III.
THE COLLOTYPE PROCESS . . . 163
CHAPTER IV.
PRINTING FROM THE COLLOTYPE PLATE . . . 171
CHAPTER V.
THE NEW HOME PRINTING PROCESS . . . 178
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INTRODUCTION.
The improvements made within the last twenty years in the art of
printing books have not, until recently, been kept pace with by the
methods of illustration. Wood engraving, except for high class and
expensive editions, was crude, whilst the use of engravings from copper
or steel, or of lithographs, was also restricted to short and expensive
editions.
The introduction of the zinc-etching process, in which the picture is
first drawn in line, or stipple, or chalk, upon lithographic transfer
paper, then transferred to a plate of zinc and subjected to a process
of etching in various baths of acid water, marks a new era, replete
with great improvements in cheapness, facility of production, and
artistic results.
This new process had scarcely been in good working order before it was
seen that great improvements might be made by enlisting photography in
its service; because in its original form it was necessary that the
design be made of the same size as the finished block, which, in many
cases, added too much to the expense. But by introducing photography,
the size of the original was of no moment; the lens could easily reduce
that, and at the same time preserve the proportions, as well as fine
down any crudity in the drawing.
The first methods of producing a photo-transfer, were by making
a negative from the original, then paper coated with bichromated
gelatine was exposed under this negative, and the sensitive gelatine,
corresponding with the transparent portions of the negative
(representing the lines of the original), being exposed to the action
of light was made non-absorbent of water, whilst the sensitive gelatine
representing the white portion of the original being protected from the
action of light by the dark portion of the negative, still retained its
affinity for water. The consequence was that when a roller charged with
fatty ink was applied to the wet print, the exposed portions of the
gelatine took the ink, but the white portion being charged with water
rejected it, the result being a replica of the original in a fatty
ink. This was used as an ordinary lithographic transfer and could be
transferred to zinc and etched in relief. |xvi|
Such a process was not perfect, and was not suitable for subjects which
necessarily should be to scale. So the next improvement was to place
a plain mirror between the lens and sensitive plate, so producing a
negative in its proper position as regards right and left; then from
this reversed negative a print in fatty ink could be made direct on the
zinc.
These transfers on paper, or direct prints on the zinc, are restricted
entirely to what are generally termed “subjects in line,” such as
architectural drawings, plans, woodcuts, engravings from steel or
copper plates, or lithographs in pure line, in chalk, or in stipple.
The attainment of effect of half tones by graduated works of color,
thinner or thicker, or the smooth, delicate gradations of a photograph,
are not permissible in relief blocks of this kind, although for
short numbers this class of subject could be utilized by employing
the collotype, heliotype, or lichtdruck methods, which render the
half-tones without (visible) breaking up of the gradations.
The next step was to perfect the various (published first in 1854 by
Fox Talbot) methods of mechanically breaking up the half-tones of a
photograph, and so giving a means whereby a photograph in all its
delicacy may be used to illustrate a letter-press article.
Of course, during the progress of rendering photography applicable for
relief blocks, its usefulness for intaglio printing was not neglected.
And now having entered into very close competition with wood engraving
and by modification of the collotype methods, with lithography,
photography can now be used for the production of intaglio plates, in
half-tones as well as in line.
The methods by which the above results are attained furnish the text
of the pages to follow; and as each and every method given has been
tried by the author, the reader may be satisfied that the manual is, as
claimed, _practical_.
W. T. WILKINSON.
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PHOTO-ENGRAVING, ETCHING, AND LITHOGRAPHY.
PART I.
PHOTO-ENGRAVING IN LINE.
CHAPTER I.
APPLIANCES FOR MAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES.
For all methods of heliographic printing a suitable photographic
negative is absolutely necessary, and to produce that negative good
apparatus and pure chemicals, used with skill and intelligence, are
indispensable.
The studio must be well lighted, with a perfectly firm floor. The
dark-room should be kept for negative work only (the room where the
zinc printing is carried on being a separate room). There must be a
roomy sink in front of a good-sized window covered with a non-actinic
medium (yellow, not orange), such as two thicknesses of golden fabric,
so as to have plenty of light to see the progress of development by.
The copying camera must have a long bellows and should not be less
than 12 by 10, fitted with rack-work, so as to be able to get absolute
sharpness in focussing.
It will be a great advantage, and aid in adjusting the position on the
focussing screen of the drawings to be copied, if a vertical line be
drawn, and another horizontally, so that they bisect each other exactly
in the centre; then _from the centre_, mark and number each inch and
half inch upon each of the four arms of the cross; it can then be seen
at a glance not only that the picture is in the centre, but also that
it is about the right size. |10|
The dark slide must be light-tight, and made strong rather than for
portability.
The lens should be rectilinear, and should be capable of covering the
largest size plate the camera will take quite sharp to the corners. For
a 12 by 10 plate a lens with an equivalent focus of about 18 inches
will be best.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
To the lens must be fitted a reversing mirror of silvered glass,
mounted behind the lens by preference, as such a style of mounting
not only protects the surface of the mirror from the air, but keeps
extraneous light from affecting the brilliancy of the image. (Fig. 1.)
The camera must be mounted upon a solid table fixed upon small grooved
or flanged wheels, such wheels running either upon rails fixed upon
or in grooves cut into the floor, at right angles to the wall against
which the copying board is fitted.
The copying easel is placed perpendicularly in front of, and perfectly
parallel with, the camera. As a mirror is used, the camera is sideways
to the object, not facing it, as in copying direct.
The easel should be so contrived that it can be raised or lowered, and
moved right and left, which double motion is managed by having the
easel double; the up and down motion should be obtained by hanging
the back portion like a window sash, the weights being exactly the
weight of the whole easel, and the pulleys over which the cords go, not
running too freely.
At the top and bottom of the back portions of the easel are projecting
strips with a rabbet deep enough to allow the front or copying board to
slide sideways, but not loosely; this front board should be painted a
dead black with white lines in the centre from top to bottom and from
side to side, said lines being divided into inches and half inches,
from the centre, so that the drawing may be pinned in the exact centre
without trouble.
A convenient size for a copying board is 4 feet high by 5 feet wide.
In connection with the camera, the only thing left to describe is the
focussing cloth, which should be quite opaque, and of ample size to
exclude all extraneous light from behind when focussing.
For focussing the image absolutely sharp, a magnifying glass may be
required.
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