Part 3

The decarbonating process was performed by enclosing the plate of cast steel properly shaped, in a cast iron box, or case, filled about the plate to the thickness of about an inch with oxide of iron or rusty iron filings; in this state the box is luted close, and placed on a regular fire, where it is kept at a red heat during from three to twelve days. Generally about nine days is sufficient to decarbonize a plate five-eighths of an inch in thickness; when the engraving or etching has been executed, the plate is superficially converted into steel, by placing it in a box as before, and surrounding it on all sides by a powder made of equal parts of burned bones, and the cinders of burned animal matter, such as old shoes or leather. In this state the box, with its contents, closely luted, must be exposed to a blood-red heat for three hours; after which, it is taken out of the fire, and plunged perpendicularly edgeways into cold water, (which has been previously boiled) to throw off the air. By this means the plate becomes hardened without the danger of warping or cracking. It is then tempered or let down by brightening the under surface of the plate with a bit of stone; after which it is heated by being placed upon a piece of hot iron, or melted lead, until the rubbed portion acquire a pale straw-colour. For this purpose, however, the patentee expressed himself in favour of a bath of oil heated to the temperature of 460 degrees, or thereabouts of Fahrenheit’s scale. The plate being cooled in water, and polished on the surface, was ready for use.

A more material peculiarity in Mr. Perkins’ invention, and one which does not seem to have been approached by any preceding artist, was the contrivance of what are called _indenting cylinders_. These are rollers of two or three inches in diameter, and made of steel, decarbonized by the process above described, so as to be very soft. In this state they are made to roll backward and forward under a powerful pressure, over the surface of one of the hardened plates, until all the figures, letters, or indentations are communicated, with exquisite precision, in sharp relief upon the cylinder; which, being carefully hardened and tempered, becomes, by this means, fitted to communicate an impression to other plates, by an operation similar to that by which it was originally figured. It will be obvious that one advantage gained by this method must be the entire saving of the labour and expense of re-cutting in every case, on different plates, ornaments, borders, emblematical designs, &c., as these can now be impressed with little trouble on any number of plates, or in any part thereof, by the application of the cylinder. At first sight, the performance of such an operation as the one now alluded to may appear difficult, if not impracticable; and, indeed, many persons on its first announcement were disposed to doubt or deny its possibility altogether. With a proper and powerful apparatus, however, this method of transferring engravings from plates to cylinders, and _vice versa_, is every day performed with facility and success, not only in the production of bank notes, labels, &c., but in works exhibiting very elaborate engravings.

LITHOGRAPHY.

Lithography is the art of printing from stone, which claims for its author Aloys Senelfelder, a native of Munich, in the kingdom of Bavaria. The history of this useful art is recorded by the only person capable of assigning proper and correct motives, and of tracing the various means which were employed to arrive at the desired end, to ultimate success: had all other useful inventions, profitable and elegant arts, had the good fortune which this has happily experienced, we should not have had so much cause to regret deficiencies as we have frequently experienced in the course of our inquiries; then would the various illustrious authors of arts have had justice rendered to them, and still have remained possessed of that glorious immortality so justly the reward of transcendant merit; for the history of this meritorious invention is given by the author himself, thereby securing to it those advantages, which the erudite author of the preface congratulates the public upon, when in his concise epistle he uses that beautiful expression of his countryman, Klopstock, where he says, “Covered with eternal darkness are the great names of inventors.”

This work has been translated into English, and published with the following title:--“A complete Course of Lithography, containing clear and explicit Instructions in all the different branches and manners of the Art; accompanied by Illustrative Specimens of Drawings; to which is prefixed a History of Lithography, from its Origin, by Aloys Senefelder, Inventor of the Art of Lithography, or Chymical Printing,” &c.

The author of the preface to this work, and friend of the inventor, states that this is an art, whereby the artist, a minister, a man of letters, or a merchant, &c., may multiply his productions at will, without the assistance of a second person.

The author of the above work proceeds to give in detail his motives for the original invention, in which he has not only been strictly circumstantial, but no more so than the curiosity of the public requires, which is always excited in a degree proportioned to the confessed utility of a work, or that demand which its elegance has upon cultivated and delicate feeling. His labours may be said to be divided naturally into two parts, of which division the author has availed himself; first, adducing its history, and secondly, affording the operation of its process.

Its history appears to have arisen with its origin; and both to have originated in the necessities of the author. From whence it appears, that after he had received a scholastic education to qualify him for the jurisprudence of his country, the death of his father, who was a votary of the Thespian art, deprived him of those resources essential to enable him to pursue his intended honourable vocation; he was consequently driven to seek support from the previous acquisitions of his mind. He accordingly devoted his earnest attention to solicit the favours of the dramatic muse as an author. After encountering numberless difficulties, he produced one play, which was published, and sold considerably well. But the honourable independence of his mind induced him to reflect upon the certainty of the large expense, which necessarily attends the practice of an author, who has not liberal patrons in the public or the trade; and the uncertainty of adequate remuneration from the public, for whose amusement they make such large sacrifices of time, ease, property, health, and often life itself. These reflections induced his ardent and ingenious mind to endeavour to avoid the uncertainty of this contingency. He did not possess property to enable him to establish himself as a printer, which was his desire; he was therefore compelled to have recourse to his own ingenuity. He tried various, and at first, unsuccessful experiments, which he ingeniously details; because, he considered, that nearly as much is learned from the failures of an artist, had he always the honesty to publish them, as is gained from his most successful discoveries.

Various were the materials upon which he first essayed to complete his purposes; till, at length, chance directed him to try what could be effected upon stone. For this purpose, he used a species found in Germany, of a beautifully close grained and dense kind, susceptible of receiving a fine polish, called Kellheim stone. Knowing the failures which his countrymen had experienced in endeavouring to fix the ink in this stone for etching, he had recourse to a chemical experiment to obviate this, which succeeded in the following manner:--To four or five parts of water, he added one of rectified vitriol, which instantly produced an effervescence, on being poured upon it; the stone was instantly covered with a coat of gypsum, which to vitriol is impenetrable; this is easily wiped off, and the stone being dried, it is ready for use. The next want he found, was a species of ink, proper to answer the peculiar purposes of the material whereon he had to operate; for which he discovered none so well adapted as the following mixture:--A composition of three parts of wax, with one of yellow soap, is melted over a fire, and mixed with a small portion of lamp-black, dissolved in rain-water. But this is now greatly simplified, as the lithographic printers generally use the same ink as the copperplate printers.

The process of lithography is very simple. The article wanted to be printed is written or drawn upon a piece of transfer paper, which being wet and laid on the stone, and put through the press, the writing or drawing remains on the stone, and any number of impressions may be taken off. Care must be taken, before inking, to come over the stone with a damp sponge, to prevent the ink adhering to the places not wanted, which it would otherwise do.

We understand the Bath and Portland stone is successfully used; but the best yet found in Britain, for the purpose, is what is known by the name of _lias_, raised near Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire; it is a calcareous and partly siliceous stone, and we think not destitute of magnesia, having, when, polished, a very silky and somewhat saponaceous feel.

This art has flourished to a greater extent than we believe the most sanguine expectations of its inventor could have anticipated. Many beautiful specimens of art have been produced equal to the finest copper-plate engravings. It is excellently adapted for drawing of plans, bill-heads, circulars, cards, and many other light articles, which used formerly to be printed by means of letter-press; and on account of the numerous ornaments so easily applied to the lithographic process, the most of these, and similar articles, are principally lithographed, to the detriment, we would conceive, of the letter-press and copper-plate printers.

PAPER.

Before the invention of paper, in ancient times, a great variety of substances have been used for the purpose of recording events, or delineating ideas, of which it becomes our duty to give a somewhat detailed account, to show our readers the numerous advantages they enjoy, in having a material which, like everything in common use, is but little thought of. But let any one suppose himself to be without this necessary article, or the means of communicating his ideas, he would be sensible of the difference.

Rough stones and stakes were used as the first known records of the ancient Phœnicians, remains of which are reported to be still visible; and to confirm this persuasion, certain heaps of stones have been discovered in the environs of Cadiz, which are currently believed to be the remains of those monuments alleged to be made by Hercules, in memory of his famous expedition to the gardens of the Hesperides, for the golden fruit, or as others have it, against Spain. It is also stated, that the usual mode of recording great events, in the north of Asia and Europe, was by placing stones of extraordinary size; in aid of this, we have a great variety of instances.

Since the _scriptural_ art has been introduced, or invented, many materials have been, in a variety of ages, and in numerous countries, used for the purpose of recording events to posterity; characters cut upon rocks, upon tables of stone, upon bark, pieces of wood, written upon skins of fish and animals, palm-leaves, besides a great variety of other articles, of which we will only enumerate a few.

There is a Bible still preserved, written on palm-leaves, in the University of Gottingen, containing 5,376 leaves. Another Bible, of the same material, is at Copenhagen. There was also, in Sir Hans Sloane’s collection, more than twenty manuscripts, in various languages, on the same material.

The protocols of the Emperors in early times were written upon bark. In the British Museum are many specimens of this substance; also in the grand Duke’s gallery at Florence.

To this mode is supposed to have succeeded the practice of painting letters on linen cloth and cotton; what was the difference in the preparation of that material to the one now employed is not ascertained, but it is considered that some preparation was necessary in order to use that substance. There have been frequently found in the chests or cases containing the Egyptian mummies, very neat characters written on linen. Linen being subject to accidents from becoming mouldy, &c., asbestoes cloth had been occasionally used in small quantities.

The accidents to which these species of materials were most of them subject, and linen particularly so, induced man to endeavour to remedy those objects; he accordingly is found to have recourse to the animal creation.

In the convent of Dominican monks at Bologna, are two books of Esdras, written on asses’ skins, said to have been written by Esdras himself. The ancient Persians wrote on hides, from which the hair was scraped. The shepherds wrote their songs with thorns upon straps of leather, which they wound round their crooks.

The ancient Welch had a peculiar manner of writing upon small squared oblong pieces of wood, which they called _billets_, which name forms the appellative to numerous of their productions, as the “Billett of the Bard.”

The Italian kings, Hugo and Lotharis, gave a grant to the Ambrosian church, at Milan, written on the skin of a fish.

In the Alexandrian Library there were the works of Homer, written in golden letters on the skins of animals. In the reign of the Emperor Baliskus, the head and “Odyssey” of Homer, written in golden letters, on the intestines of beasts, one hundred and twenty feet long, were burned at Constantinople.

In the royal library at Hanover, there is a gold plate, written by an independent prince of Coromandel to George II., three feet long and four inches wide, inlaid on both sides with diamonds.

At last we have arrived at the period for the introduction of the Egyptian papyrus, a kind of rush of large dimensions, growing in the marshes on the banks of the Nile. This plant is described as growing in swamps to the height of fifteen feet; the stalk triangular, of a thickness to be spanned, surrounded near the root by short leaves; stalk naked, has on the top a bush resembling the head with hairs, or long thin straight fibres; root brown.

The Egyptian papyrus was manufactured into paper from very fine pellicles near its pith, separated by a pin or pointed mussel-shell spread on a table in such form as was required, sprinkled with Nile water; on the first layer a second layer was laid crosswise to finish the sheet, then pressed, hung to dry, and afterwards polished with a tooth. The Nile water was very carefully used to prevent spots. Twenty skins were the greatest number which could be procured from one plant. Those nearest the pith made the finest paper. Twenty sheets glued together were called _scapus_, but sometimes _scapi_ went to form a _volumen_. This part of the business was executed by the _glutinatoris_, who resembled our bookbinders.

This plant yielded materials for making four sorts of paper.

With respect to other substances for the same purpose, there are many, but as most of these have one generic character, being manufactured from the bark of trees, the detail is not here given, as it might not, perhaps, be generally interesting, especially as nothing new appears in this respect.

With respect to the paper now in use, Dr. Blair says, the first paper-mill (in England, we suppose) was erected at Dartford, in the year 1588, by a German of the name of Spiellman; from which period we may, perhaps, date its manufacture in this country.

It appears, however, that it was known in the East, much earlier; it being observed that most of the ancient manuscripts in Arabic and other Oriental languages, were written upon cotton paper, and it is thought the Saracens first introduced it into Spain.

Anderson, in his “History of Commerce,” says, that till the year 1690, there was scarcely any paper made in England, but the coarse brown sort. Paper was previously imported from France, Genoa, and Holland.--However, the improvement of this article in England, in consequence of the French war, produced a saving to this country of £100,000 annually, which had been paid to France for paper alone.

After linen and cotton are so much worn as to be unfit for any other purpose, the several kinds are collected together, and the hard seams and other accumulations, which would require a much longer time to prepare proper for the general mass, than would be consistent with the economy of the whole, those shreds are then separated and thrown away; the different kinds are then collected and kept separate from each other. In such a state of separation they are laid in troughs, which are afterwards filled with water, where they are suffered to remain till a species of fermentation takes place; and the separation of the parts formed by art is not only rendered easy, but also, a division may be made of the most minute parts; the separation is then made by machinery. When properly prepared, a sufficient quantity is placed upon a wire frame, or otherwise one formed of cloth; by mechanical pressure, the moisture is extracted, after which the sheets are hung up separately on lines to dry, in a building properly constructed to admit a free circulation of air.

Manufacturers of paper, originally, could only use white rags to make white paper; but Mr. Campbell, in 1792, discovered a method of discharging any colour from rags, by bleaching with oxi-muriatic acid gas, for which he obtained a patent.

The next considerable improvement which appears to have been made in the manufacture of paper, consists in using felt or woollen cloth in conjunction with the wire cloth formerly used, and now of necessity retained, and other processes too voluminous to be inserted here.

The only remaining circumstance we have to mention is, that in the beginning of the present century there was manufactured, in the vicinity of London, a very good printing paper, made entirely from wheat straw; for which manufacture, the inventor obtained a patent, but he did not succeed, we presume, because it is now discontinued. Considerable quantities of paper is now made from straw in France; but it is of a yellow tinge. Paper made from linen is the best.

PAPER HANGING.

The desire of man, for the gratification of his natural wants, being soon satisfied, he yet is wanting--those artificial wants which arise in the mind, and are the source of his comforts, because their gratification yields him high delight. Having built him a house, to shelter himself from the exigencies of the weather, to enlarge the sphere of his pleasures, he is desirous to ornament it; and because he cannot, perhaps, construct his house of silver, gold, or costly stones, he endeavours, at least, to have an imitation; and gilding, lacquering, painting, or staining is substituted. This idea, we will presume, to have given origin to every species of decorative ornament in the construction of houses--and among the rest to paper-hanging, which is carried on to a greater extent in this country, than at any former period.

The ancient Greeks, according to Archbishop Potter, constructed not only their arms, but also their houses, occasionally of brass, whilst the Romans frequently gilt theirs; they often covered them with costly casings or veneers, sometimes with precious stones. Since they went to such great cost to ornament the outside of their habitations, we need not wonder that they spared no expense in endeavouring to ornament them within.--Those people, however, who could not procure these extravagancies in reality, thought they would, at least, have the nearest imitation of them; accordingly they had recourse sometimes to veneers of those substances they had seen substantially employed by the rich and luxurious, as well for outside ornament as interior decoration; those who could not afford this, had recourse to pigments and the graphic art; for this purpose, the ingenuity of man was employed to devise various modes of ornament and decoration. Hence arose the various kinds of painting, the fresco, scagliolo, &c., and lastly, came staining of paper in use.

To enumerate the various kinds of this, might be attended with very little benefit, because the principle of all is nearly the same. However, it has been remarked that three kinds are deserving of notice. The first and plainest is that which has on it figures, drawn and painted with one or more colours, consisting only of painted paper. The second contains a woolly stuff, dyed of various tints, and made to adhere to the paper, in certain forms, by a glutinous matter; and the third is a species of paper covered with metallic dust. There are other papers used for hangings, which contain a representation of many kinds of stones, of which we understand there is a large manufactory in Leipsic.

There is also a species of velvet paper--a paper covered with sham plush, or wool dyed and cut short, and made to adhere to the paper by some kind of cement, said to have been the invention of an Englishman, of the name of Jerome Lanyer, in the reign of Charles I., for which he received a patent. In the specification it is stated, that he had found out an art and mystery for affixing wool, silk, and other materials, upon linen, cotton, leather, and other substances, with oil, size, and cements, so as to make them useful and serviceable for hangings and other purposes; which he called Londrindina; and he said it was his own invention, and formerly used within this realm.

However, it appears that this invention of Lanyer was afterwards disputed by a Frenchman of the name of Tierce, who said it was the production of a countryman of his, named Francois, who, he stated, had made such before 1620, and supported his assertion by producing patterns, and the wooden blocks with which it was printed, with the dates inscribed upon them. The son of Francois, it appeared, followed his father’s business, at Rouen, for more than fifty years, where he died, in 1748. Some of his workmen are said to have left him, and gone to the Netherlands, Germany, and other places, where they sold their art.

It appears that Nemetz ascribes the invention of wax-cloth hangings, with wool chopped and beat fine, to a Frenchman, named Andran, who, he says, in the beginning of the last century, was an excellent painter in arabesque and grotesque figures, and inspector of the palace of the Luxembourg at Paris, in which he had a manufactory for hangings of that kind. It is also stated that a person of the name of Eccard invented the art of printing, on paper-hangings, gold and silver figures, and that he carried on an extensive manufactory for such works.

It certainly does appear that the Germans cannot claim the privilege of invention here, but were behind their neighbours in this art.

One of the most ingenious of the many new improvements is said to consist in the art of manufacturing paper-hangings by affixing to the substance of the proper metallic dust, commonly called Nuremberg dust, by which it acquires the appearance of various costly metals in a state of fracture, varied with glittering particles of differently formed parts; and receiving the light in every direction, produce certainly a novel effect, which is rich and beautiful, while it is obtained at little expense.