LITHOGRAPHY.
Lithography, as one of the modern arts, dates only from about the end of the last century. The inventor,Aloys Senefelder, the son of an actor, was born at Munich in 1771, and died there on the 26th February, 1834. Intended for the profession of the Law, he, on the death of his father, was obliged to retire from the University.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
Thrown on his own resources at the age of eighteen, he turned to his father’s profession, but met with little success. Writing for the stage, he found difficulty, owing to his poverty, in getting his writings published, and it was in trying to find out some ready process to attain this end that he arrived at what we now term the Art of Lithography. Senefelder lived to perfect his art to a high degree, and to see it brought into general use, but without bringing much profit to himself. Since his time many advances have taken place, and new developments in various directions, as in the beautiful art of chromo-lithography and photo-lithography.
The term Lithography is derived from the Greek,lithos, a stone, andgrapho, to write. Lithographic stone is a species of limestone, the best qualities of which are obtained from the quarries at Solenhofen, near Munich, and from Papenheim, on the Danube. The stones are cut into slabs or blocks of various sizes to suit the work required; to print an octavo page, quarto, etc., up to sixty inches by forty, and evenlarger. The thickness varies from an inch and a half in the smaller, to four or five inches in the larger sizes. The stones are ground perfectly level with sand and water, and finished off with a fine stone until a perfectly smooth polished surface is produced, when it is ready to receive the drawing, or to have transferred to its surface a drawing or writing made upon specially prepared paper (lithographic transfer paper). For chalk or crayon drawings, the smooth surface of the stone isgrainedwith sifted silver sand, which gives a beautifully even granular texture, and the drawing is made upon it withlithographic chalk. For drawing upon the smooth stone, or upon transfer paper,lithographic inkis used.
The principle underlying the process of Lithographyis simply this:—The nature of the stone is such that it retains with great tenacity the resinous and oily substances contained in the ink or the crayon employed to form the design. The lithographic stone also absorbs water freely; this, combined with the peculiar affinity between resinous substances and their mutual power of repelling water, causes the ink on the printing roller to adhere to the design and to leave untouched the damp surface of the stone.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
The process of Lithographic Printingis as follows:—After the drawing on the litho. stone is completed, it receives a wash of dilute acid and gum arabic, and this, by removing the alkali from the ink, leaves the design on it in a permanent form, at the same time that it etches away a minute portion of the surface of the stone, and renders it more absorbent of water. Afteretching, all trace of the acid is removed with a sponge and water, the stone is rubbed over with adamp muslin clothto equalise the moisture upon the surface, thelithographic rollercharged withprinting inkis passed over the surface, the lines of the design alone taking ink; the paper is thenlaid upon the stone, and a copy is obtained by means of thelithographic press. The damping of the stone and inking is repeated for every impression.
Lithographic Writing and Drawing InkandLithographic Crayonsfor chalk drawing on stone, are similar in composition, but different in proportions, suited to the particular kind of work,white wax,shell-lac,hard soap,tallow, andlamp blackbeing the chief ingredients. For writing and drawing all kinds of line work on stone or transfer paper, the ink is made in sticks, and rubbed down with water to a proper consistency for use, and used with apenorsable pencil. For chalk drawings upon a grained stone, the ink is cast into the form of crayons, and used in a port-crayon for convenience in drawing, sharpening the point as required.
Chalk Drawing on Stoneis rarely used for such small work as book-plates. We need not therefore more particularly refer to it, than to say that excellence in this department of Lithography may be attained more readily than infine-line work, for which constant practice, and a very delicate handling of the implements, the lithographic pen and fine sable pencil, is required.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
The technical difficulties to be overcome in Lithography are very great; to the unpractised they seem insuperable: the magic of handling acquired by long-continued practice in the use of the materials, as seen in good examples, exhibits a degree of technical skill which the amateur may not hope to rival. To draw with thepenorsmall sable pencilwith the requisite degree of fineness of line of the expert, and with the precision and apparent freedom of the accomplished artist, is a thing of difficult attainment. This is a disadvantage to artists generally, who are obliged to entrust the translation of their drawings to the professional lithographer—not always with a satisfactory result(!)
Grained or Textured Paper, of which there are many varieties specially made with a chalky surface forphoto-lithography, are now much used, on which the artist makes his drawing in litho-chalk or suitable black lead pencil. As the knife point may be used to scrape out lights on the chalky surface, it admits of very effective work for pictorial illustrations. A photo-litho transfer is then put to stone, or aprocess blockmade from it, as may be required. Drawings made on this prepared textured paper with lithographic chalk may also be transferred to stone direct, and printed from. Extreme beauty and fineness are, however, gained by the photo-reduction.
Very beautiful Pictorial and Heraldic Ex Libris have been executed by the lithographic process, hardly to be distinguished from plate engraving.
Engraved Platesmay have transfers taken from them and printed from stone. A number of examples, with explanatory titles, are given of the various modes oflithographic and photo-lithographic reproduction.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
Drawn on transfer paper and transferred to stone direct.
Some very dainty examples of Ex Libris emblazoned in heraldic tinctures are met with, very charming in their way, principally German ones. Colour in the heraldry of book-plates has not found the same favour in this country as on the Continent; for what reason it is hard to understand. Through the courtesy of Mr. R. S. Mansergh, Friarsfield, co. Tipperary, we are enabled to print as afrontispiecethe plate newly designed by the writer, and executed by Messrs. Marcus Ward & Co., of Belfast.
PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY.
Photo-lithography is now so largely employed for the reproduction of all classes of work that a few words in explanation of it may be very desirable. The process is of a somewhat technical nature, but simplicity itself when understood! It is founded upon the fact thatgelatine, by the addition of a certain chemical, is rendered insoluble on exposure to light.
A negative photograph from the original drawing in black lines having been taken by thewetor collodion plate, it is intensified to the required degree, so that the lines of the design appear perfectly clear upon a dense, opaque, black film. It is then “exposed” in the printing frame, upon paper that has been coated (in the dark) with the prepared gelatine—now extremely sensitive to light. Taken out of the printing frame in the dark room, the exposed print (which barely shows any trace of the design at this stage) is then covered with a thin film or coating of printers’ transfer ink.The lines exposed to the light have been rendered insoluble, while the white ground of the design protected by the negative is still in a soluble condition. Floated in a bath of warm water, the soluble gelatine (not acted on by the light), with its coating of ink, is washed away—the insoluble lines of the design alone remaining, coated with printers’ transfer ink. This “photo-transfer” is then ready to be put down to the lithographic stone and printed from, or it may be transferred to a polished zinc plate, and etched to the requisite depth as a block for type printing.
Drawn on stone direct, with mechanical ruling added.
Drawn on stone direct, with mechanical ruling added.
The invention of photo-lithography enables the artist to make his own drawings or designs in black and white on a larger scale (usually one-third or one-half larger than required), which will be photo-litho’d down to the size required, thus preserving intact every touch and flexture of line in the original, and, by the reduction, gaining a fineness of line and beauty of finish which the artist could not himself produce on the reduced size.Machine Rulingmay afterwards be transferred into the design when it is upon the stone, as in some of the designs in the accompanying examples.
“Process blocks,” which reproduce so admirably all kinds of drawings and engravings, are, when carefully printed, sometimes very difficult to detect from direct lithographs.
Ulster King of Arms.Pen and Ink Drawing by Rev. Wm. FitzGerald,reproduced by process block. Much reduced.
Ulster King of Arms.
Pen and Ink Drawing by Rev. Wm. FitzGerald,reproduced by process block. Much reduced.