The Project Gutenberg EBook of Photo-engraving, Photo-etching and Photo-lithography in Line and Half, by W. T. Wilkinson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Photo-engraving, Photo-etching and Photo-lithography in Line and Half-tone Also Collotype and Heliotype Author: W. T. Wilkinson Editor: Edward L. Wilson Release Date: June 19, 2016 [EBook #52378] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHOTO-ENGRAVING *** Produced by Chris Curnow, RichardW, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Photo-engraving, Photo-etching, and Photo-lithog‐ raphy in Line and Half-tone; Also Collotype and Heliotype; By W. T. Wilkinson, Revised and En‐ larged by Edward L. Wilson. SPECIMEN OF “MOSS-TYPE” ENGRAVED BY THE MOSS ENGRAVING CO., 535 PEARL STREET, NEW YORK. SPECIMEN OF “MOSS-TYPE” ENGRAVED BY THE MOSS ENGRAVING CO., 535 PEARL STREET, NEW YORK. SPECIMEN OF “MOSS-TYPE” ENGRAVED BY THE MOSS ENGRAVING CO., 535 PEARL STREET, NEW YORK. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. G. CRAMER, ST. LOUIS. HALF-TONE ZINC ETCHING. (MOSSTYPE.) PHOTO-ENGRAVING, PHOTO-ETCHING, AN D PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN LINE AND HALF-TONE; ALS O , COLLOTYPE AND HELIOTYPE. BY W. T. WILKINSON, O F LO N DO N . 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. 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. 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. . . . 10 . . . 25 . . . 37 . . . 42 . . . 67 . . . 88 . . . 90 . . . 92 . . . 93 . . . 98 . . . 98 . . . 98 . . . 117 . . . 118 . . . 124 . . . 141 . . . 167 . . . 168 . . . 168 . . . 168 . . . 169 . . . 174 . . . 178 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Reversing Mirror ♦ The Dark-room ♦ The Plate-support ♦ The Whirler ♦ The Copying Camera ♦ Example of Zinc Etching (low) ♦ Example of Zinc Etching (high) ♦ Example of Zinc Etching (round) ♦ The Caliber-bridge ♦ The Sieve ♦ The Heating Lamp ♦ The Washing Table ♦ Example of Photo-engraving ♦ Example of Half-tone Engraving ♦ The Dusting-box ♦ The Transfer-board ♦ The Drying-oven ♦ Support for the Drying-oven ♦ Jacket for the Drying-oven ♦ Copper Tank for the Drying-oven ♦ Interior plan for the Drying-oven ♦ A New Drying-oven ♦ The Universal Copying Machine ♦ . . . 9 . . . 11 . . . 24 . . . 39 . . . 45 . . . 48 . . . 51 . . . 55 . . . 63 . . . 65 . . . 69 . . . 72 . . . 73 . . . 94 . . . 119 . . . 122 CONTENTS. PART I. PHOTO-ENGRAVING IN LINE. CHAPTER I. ♦ APPLIANCES FOR MAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES CHAPTER II. ♦ THE WET COLLODION PROCESS CHAPTER III. ♦ PHOTOGRAPHIC MANIPULATIONS CHAPTER IV. ♦ APPARATUS FOR PRINTING UPON ZINC CHAPTER V. ♦ PRINTING ON ZINC IN ALBUMEN CHAPTER VI. ♦ PRINTING ON ZINC IN BITUMEN CHAPTER VII. ♦ DIRECT TRANSFERS TO ZINC CHAPTER VIII. ♦ ETCHING LINE TRANSFERS PART II. PHOTO-ENGRAVING IN HALF-TONE. CHAPTER I. ♦ RETROSPECTIVE CHAPTER II. ♦ MAKING GRAINED NEGATIVES CHAPTER III. ♦ ETCHING IN HALF-TONE CHAPTER IV. ♦ PRINTING FROM THE BLOCK CHAPTER V. ♦ THE TRANSFER OF THE DRAWING, AND ITS TREATMENT BEFORE ETCHING CHAPTER VI. ♦ HINTS FROM ALL SOURCES PART III. PHOTO-ENGRAVING ON COPPER. CHAPTER I. ♦ SUBJECTS IN LINE CHAPTER II. ♦ HALF-TONE INTAGLIOS . . . 124 . . . 127 . . . 129 . . . 132 . . . 136 . . . 139 . . . 140 . . . 143 . . . 144 . . . 147 . . . 151 . . . 152 . . . 163 . . . 171 . . . 178 CHAPTER III. ♦ HALF-TONE INTAGLIOS—(Continued ) CHAPTER IV. ♦ HALF-TONE INTAGLIOS. ELECTROTYPING METHODS PART IV. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN LINE. CHAPTER I. ♦ PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN LINE CHAPTER II. ♦ PAPER TRANSFERS CHAPTER III. ♦ PAPER TRANSFERS—(Continued ) CHAPTER IV. ♦ TOOVEY’S NEGATIVE TRANSFER PROCESS CHAPTER V. ♦ PHOTO-LITHO. TRANSFERS PART V. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN HALF-TONE. CHAPTER I. ♦ PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY IN HALF-TONE CHAPTER II. ♦ INK PHOTOS CHAPTER III. ♦ HUSBAND’S PAPYROTINT PROCESS PART VI. COLLOGRAPHIC PRINTING. CHAPTER I. ♦ HALF-TONE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES CHAPTER II. ♦ THE HELIOTYPE PROCESS CHAPTER III. ♦ THE COLLOTYPE PROCESS CHAPTER IV. ♦ PRINTING FROM THE COLLOTYPE PLATE CHAPTER V. ♦ THE NEW HOME PRINTING PROCESS 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. 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. {xvi} 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.