LECTURE XI.MAKING READY FOR THE PRINTING PRESS.
HAVING made your drawing, had it reproduced by one of the methods I described, you must now have it printed.
Excepting in the case of very limited fine editions of not more than one hundred copies, the original plates or blocks on which the designs have been engraved are very seldom used, because if anything should happen to the blocks or plates they would have to be done over again. So copies of them, called electrotypes and sometimes stereotypes, are made. The electrotype of a wood or metal block or plate is produced inthe same way as an electrotype of any other object, by usually taking a wax cast of it, putting the cast in an electrotyping bath, when a shell of copper is deposited upon it. As many of these wax casts may be made as are wanted, and as many shells are deposited as desired. These copper shells are then backed up with wood or metal and are ready to print from. They are wonderfully cheaply and quickly turned out, and in the case of magazines and books, for which a large circulation is expected, are always used; and it is almost, with good work, impossible to tell the difference between the electrotype, and the original; from a process block or wood engraving, while the original block is preserved for making additional electrotypes for future editions. In the case of cheap books, or newspapers with illustrations, theDaily Graphic, for example—theChroniclewas printed almost altogether from the originalblocks, or electrotypes—the page of type is set up with the original blocks in it, and this is stereotyped to print from; that is, a papier maché mould is made of the entire page of type and illustrations, either by pounding down on to it, with a heavy brush, a thick sheet of papier maché till the entire page is moulded into the pulpy papier maché, or by covering it with successive sheets of thin damp paper until a solid mould or matrix of paper is made on the type; this matrix is hardened and placed in a curved steel case, and type metal poured into the case upon the paper mould; as soon as the type metal has cooled it is taken out, and a perfect cast of the page is seen in metal, curved so that it will fit on the cylinder of the printing press. If there are no illustrations, it may be printed right off, without further preparation; but if the page contains illustrations, in order to get the proper amount of colour on the blacks,and the delicacy of the greys, little pieces of paper must be put over and under the illustrations, on the printing press, to bring out their colour, by increasing or lessening the pressure. This is the way in which it is done: a man, called the overlay cutter, has several proofs of the illustration given him, and he cuts them out so as to produce a series of skeleton designs, one containing only the blacks, another the blacks and dark greys, the third the blacks, dark and light greys, and so on; these he pastes on the top of each other, forming the picture in relief, and this relief picture is either placed under the block to be printed from, or else on the opposite cylinder under the paper on which the picture is to be printed—it must be put on very accurately and firmly, for if it slips it will ruin the whole page. All this work connected with printing is most interesting, most complicated, and most wonderfullyperformed. In order to understand it thoroughly, you must go and work in a printing office; all illustrators should learn at least how overlays are made, how to correct them, and how to work on blocks or electros, though this is really the duty of the engraver; when they are on the printing press, little things may happen which may make or mar a whole book, which only the artist can detect, and which he should be able to set right. Therefore if you are making a beautiful book, you should not only see all the engraver’s proofs of your drawings, but the printer’s proofs as well; all this requires much work and more knowledge, but unless you care enough about your work to acquire this knowledge, I doubt if you will ever be a great success as an illustrator—that is, artistically.
Very much has been said lately about the artist considering the limitations of the printing press, the paper, and ink. Really to-daywith the best engravers, the best printers and paper-makers, there are no limits to the possibilities of reproducing and printing drawings. The limits are the depth of the publisher’s pocket. Almost any drawing whatever can be reproduced very well, by some means, provided the editor or publisher will pay the price charged for having it reproduced, and the engravers and printers have the knowledge of their craft to reproduce it. And if the book or magazine will stand the expense, it very likely will pay the publisher. But if you are working for a magazine, it is not likely that the proprietors can afford photogravures, therefore your work must be made so that it will reproduce well by wood engraving or process. And the necessity for attention to the mechanical requirements of drawing, engraving, and printing increase, as the price of the book or paper decreases, until when one comes down, financially, tothe halfpenny papers, only those drawings can be used which will print at the utmost speed, and with the least care bestowed upon them, in poor ink and cheap paper. Still, there is no reason why the artistic quality also should degenerate; there are men at work to-day whose drawings would look just as well in the halfpenny evening papers as in a three-guinea book, and these men are to be congratulated on their perfect mastery of the cheaper methods of reproduction. Therefore try to do good work in your own way, and do not bother about anything but whether it will look well on the printed page.
UNWIN BROTHERS, PRINTERS, LONDON AND CHILWORTH.
Transcriber’s NoteArchaic and variant spelling is preserved as printed.Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.Hyphenation has been made consistent.
Transcriber’s Note
Archaic and variant spelling is preserved as printed.
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.
Hyphenation has been made consistent.