Part 4

9. _Etching._ This mode of engraving is far more easy than any other, being performed chiefly by chemical corrosion. In fact, any person who can draw, may _etch_ coarse designs tolerably well, after having learned the theory of the operation. To perform it, the plate is first covered with a thin coating of some resinous substance, upon which the acid employed can have no action. The design, and all the lines it requires, are next traced on the plate with steel points, called _etching needles_, which are instruments similar to the dry-point.

10. The second part of the process is the corrosion, or, as it is technically called, _biting in_. This is effected by pouring upon the design a quantity of diluted nitric acid, after having surrounded the edges of the plate with a wall of soft wax, to prevent the escape of the fluid. A chemical action immediately takes place in all the lines or points where the copper has been denuded by the needle. After the first biting has been continued long enough, in the judgment of the operator, the acid is poured off, and the plate examined.

11. The light shades, if found sufficiently deep, are then covered with varnish, to protect them from further corrosion. The biting is then continued for the second shades, in the same manner, and afterwards, for the third and succeeding shades, until the piece shall have been finished. The plate having been cleaned, and carefully examined by the aid of a proof impression, the deficiencies which may be discovered are supplied with the graver.

12. _Mezzotinto._ In the production of this kind of engraving, the whole surface of the plate is first roughened, or covered with minute prominences and excavations too small to be obvious to the naked eye; so that an impression taken from it, in this state, would present a uniform velvety, black appearance. This roughness is produced mechanically by means of a small toothed instrument, called a _cradle_.

13. When the plate has been thus prepared, the rest of the process is comparatively easy. It consists in pressing down or rubbing out the roughness of certain parts of the plate, with the burnisher and scraper. Where strong lights are required, the plate is restored to a smooth surface; for a medium light, it is moderately burnished, or partially erased; and, for the deepest shades, the ground is left entire, and sometimes etched, and corroded with nitric acid. Impressions from mezzotinto plates approach more nearly to oil paintings than any other prints. This kind of engraving was invented by Prince Rupert, in 1649.

14. _Aqua-tinta._ There are several methods by which this kind of engraving can be executed; we, however, will describe the one which seems to be the most simple and obvious. The outline of the picture having been etched or engraved in the usual manner, the surface of the copper is sprinkled equally with minute particles of rosin. This dust is fixed to the surface by heating the plate until the rosin has melted.

15. The ground having been thus laid, the parts of the plates not intended to be occupied by the design are _stopped out_ by means of thick varnish. The plate is now surrounded with a wall of wax, as for etching, and diluted nitric acid is poured upon it. A chemical action immediately takes place, by which the surface exposed between the resinous particles is minutely excavated.

16. The lighter shades are stopped out at an early stage of the process, and the _biting in_ is continued for the darker ones. After the plate is judged to be sufficiently corroded, it is cleansed, and an impression is taken on paper. The process is finished by burnishing the shades, to give them greater softness, and by touching up the defective parts with the graver.

17. This mode of engraving is well adapted to light subjects, sketches, landscapes, &c.; but, owing to the fineness of the ground, the plates wear out rapidly, and seldom yield, when of ordinary strength, more than six hundred impressions. The prints taken from such plates bear a strong resemblance to paintings in Indian ink, or to drawings in black-lead pencil. Aqua-tinta is the most precarious kind of engraving, and requires much attention on the part of the artist. It was invented by a Frenchman, named Leprince, who, for a time, kept the process a secret, and sold his impressions for original drawings.

18. _Steel engraving._ The process of engraving on steel plates differs but little in its details from that on copper plates; and the chief advantage derived from this method, arises from the hardness or toughness of the material, which renders it capable of yielding a greater number of impressions.

19. This mode of engraving was first practised, in England, by the calico-printers; but steel was first employed for bank-notes, and for common designs, by Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, Massachusetts; and by him, in conjunction with Asa Spencer, of New-London, and Gideon Fairman, of Philadelphia, the use of steel in this application was generally introduced, not only in the United States, but also in Great Britain, some time before the year 1820.

20. The plates are prepared for the engraver from sheets of steel about one-sixth of an inch in thickness. A plate cut from a sheet of this kind is first softened by heating it with charcoal, and suffering it to cool gradually in the atmosphere. It is next _planished_, or hammered on a peculiar kind of anvil, to make it perfectly level, and afterwards ground on one side upon a grindstone. The operation is completed by polishing it with Scotch stone and charcoal. When steel was first substituted for copper, it was hardened before it was used in printing; but it is now used in its soft state, as it comes from the hands of the artist.

THE COPPERPLATE-PRINTER.

1. The copperplate-printer takes impressions on paper from engraved plates by means of a rolling press. This machine, together with some of the operations in its application, are well exhibited in the above picture.

2. The period at which the practice of printing from engraved plates commenced, cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty. The Dutch, the Germans, and the Italians, contend for the honor of introducing it; but the weight of testimony seems to be in favor of the claims of the Italian sculptor and goldsmith, Tommaso Finiguera, who flourished at Florence, about the middle of the fifteenth century.

3. It is stated that this artist, accidentally spilling some melted brimstone on an engraved plate, found, on its removal, an exact impression of the engraving, marked with black, taken out of the strokes. This suggested to him the idea of taking an impression in ink on paper, by the aid of a roller. It is hardly necessary to state, that the experiment succeeded. Copperplate-printing was not used in England until about 150 years after its first employment at Florence, when it was introduced from Antwerp, by Speed.

4. The ink used in this kind of printing is made of a carbonaceous substance, called Frankfort black, and linseed or nut oil. Oil is used, instead of water, that the ink may not dry during the process; and it is boiled till it has become thick and viscid, that it may not spread on the paper. The materials are incorporated and prepared with the stone and muller, as painters prepare their colors.

5. In taking impressions from an engraved plate, it is first placed on an iron frame over a heated stove, or over a charcoal fire in a furnace, and while in this position, the ink is spread over it with a roller covered with coarse cloth, or with a ball of rubber made of the same material, and faced with buckskin. The heat renders the ink so thin that it can penetrate the minute excavations of the engraving. The plate having been thus sufficiently charged, is wiped first with a rag, then with the hand, until the ink has been removed from every portion of it, except from the lines of the engraving.

6. The plate is next placed on the platform of the press, with its face upwards, and the paper, which has been previously dampened, is laid upon it. A turn of the cylinders, by means of the arms of the cross, carries the plate under a strong pressure, by which portions of the paper are forced into all the cavities of the engraving. The ink, or part of it, leaves the plate, and adheres to the paper, giving an exact representation of the whole work of the artist. The roller by which the pressure is applied is covered with several thicknesses of broadcloth.

7. The number of good impressions yielded by engraved copperplates, depends upon various circumstances, but chiefly on the fineness and depth of the work; and these qualities depend mainly upon the style in which it has been executed. Line engravings will admit of four or five thousand, and, after having been retouched, a considerable number more.

8. Plates of steel will yield near ten times as many good impressions as those of copper, and this too without being hardened. Besides, an engraving on steel may be transferred to a softened steel cylinder, in such a manner that the lines may stand in relief; and this cylinder, after having been hardened, may be brought in forcible contact with another plate, and thus the design may be multiplied at pleasure.

9. The bank-note engravers have now a great variety of designs and figures on steel rollers, which they can easily transfer to new plates. This practice, as applied to plates for bank-notes, originated with Jacob Perkins. It is supposed that he must have been led to it by an English engraver in his employ, who may have explained to him the manner in which the British calico-printers produced engravings on copper cylinders. This is not altogether improbable, since the principle in both cases is substantially the same.

10. In consequence of the increased demand for maps and pictorial embellishments in books, as well as for single prints as ornaments for rooms, engraving and copperplate-printing have become employments of considerable importance; and these arts must doubtless continue to flourish to an indefinite extent, in a country where the taste for the fine arts is rapidly improving, and where wealth affords the means of liberal patronage.

THE LITHOGRAPHER.

1. The word _lithography_ is derived from two Greek words--_lithos_, a stone, and _grapho_, to write; and the art to which the term is applied has reference to the execution of letters, figures, and drawings, on stone, and taking from them fac-simile impressions. The art is founded on the property which stone possesses, of imbibing fluids by capillary attraction, and on the chemical repulsion which oil and water have for each other.

2. Every kind of calcareous stone is capable of being used for lithography. Those, however, which are of a compact, fine, and equal grain, are best adapted to the purpose. The quarries of Solenhofen, near Pappenheim, in Bavaria, furnished the first plates, and none have yet been found in any other place, to equal them in quality; although some that answer the purpose tolerably well, have been taken from quarries in France and England.

3. In preparing the stones for use, they are first ground to a level surface, by rubbing two of them face to face, sand and water being interposed. Then, if they are designed for _ink drawings_, they are polished with pumice-stone; but, if for _chalk drawings_, with fine sand, which produces a grained surface adapted to holding the chalk.

4. When stones of proper size and texture cannot be conveniently obtained, slabs are sometimes constructed of lime and sand, and united with the caseous part of milk. The first part of the process which may be considered as belonging peculiarly to the art, consists in making the drawing on the stone. This is done either in ink, with steel pens and camel's hair pencils, or with crayons made of lithographic chalk. The process of drawing on stone differs but little from that on paper, with similar means.

5. For lithographic ink, a great number of receipts have been given; but the most approved composition consists of equal parts of wax, tallow, shell-lac, and common soap, with a small proportion of lamp-black. Lithographic chalk is usually composed of the same materials, combined in different proportions.

6. When the drawing has been finished, the lithographic printer prepares it for giving impressions, by using upon its surface a weak solution of acid and other ingredients, which corrode the surface of the stone, except where it is defended from its action by the grease of the chalk or ink. As soon as the stone has been sufficiently eaten away, the solution is removed by the application of spirits of turpentine and water.

7. The ink employed in this kind of printing, is similar in its composition to other kinds of printing ink. It is applied to the drawing by means of a small wooden cylinder covered with leather. The paper, which has been suitably dampened, is laid upon the stone, and after it has been covered, by turning down upon it a thick piece of leather stretched upon an iron frame, a crank is turned which brings the stone successively under the press.

8. An impression of the drawing having been thus communicated to the paper, the sheet is removed, and the process is repeated, until the proposed number of prints have been taken. Before each application of the ink, the whole face of the stone is moderately wet with water by means of a sponge; and although the roller passes over the whole surface of the stone, yet the ink adheres to no part of it, except to that which is covered with the drawing.

9. The number of impressions which may be taken from chalk drawings, varies according to their fineness. A fine drawing will give fifteen hundred; a coarse one, twice that number. Ink drawings and writings give considerably more than copperplates, the finest yielding six or eight thousand, and strong lines and writings many more.

10. Impressions from engravings can be multiplied indefinitely, with very little trouble, in the following manner. A print is taken in the usual way from the engraved plate, and immediately laid with its face upon water. When sufficiently wet, it is carefully applied to the face of a stone, and pressed down upon it by the application of a roller, until the ink is transferred to the stone. Impressions are then taken in the manner before described.

11. The invention of lithography is ascribed to Aloys Senifelder, the son of a performer at the theatre of Munich. Having become an author, and being too poor to publish his works in the usual way, he tried many plans, with copperplates and compositions, in order to be his own printer. A trial on stone, which had been accidentally suggested, succeeded. His first essays to print for publication, were some pieces of music, executed in 1796.

12. The first productions of the art were rude, and of little promise; but, since 1806, its progress has been so rapid, that it now gives employment to a great number of artists; and works are produced, which rival the finest engravings, and even surpass them in the expression of certain subjects. The earliest date of the art in the United States, is 1826, when a press was established at Boston, by William Pendleton.

THE AUTHOR.

1. The word author, in a general sense, is used to express the originator or efficient cause of a thing; but, in the restricted sense in which it is applied in this article, it signifies the first writer of a book, or a writer in general. The indispensable qualifications to make a writer are--a talent for literary composition, an accurate knowledge of language, and an acquaintance with the subject to be treated.

2. Very few persons are educated with the view to their becoming authors. They generally write on subjects pertaining to the profession or business in which they have been practically engaged: a clergyman writes on divinity; a physician, on medicine; a lawyer, on jurisprudence; a teacher, on education; and a mechanic, on his particular trade. There are subjects, however, which occupy common ground, on which individuals of various professions often write.

3. Authorship is founded upon the invention of letters, and the art of combining them into words. In the earliest ages of the world, the increase of knowledge was opposed by many formidable obstacles. Tradition was the first means of transmitting information to posterity; and this, depending upon the memory and will of individuals, was exceedingly precarious.

4. The chief adventitious aids in the perpetuation of the memory of facts by tradition, were the erection of monuments, the periodical celebration of days or years, the use of poetry, and, finally, symbolical drawings and hieroglyphical sketches. Nevertheless, history must have remained uncertain and fabulous, and science in a state of perpetual infancy, had it not been for the invention of written characters.

5. The credit of the invention of letters was claimed by the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Jews, as well as by some other nations; but as their origin preceded all authentic history not inspired, and as the book of inspiration is silent in regard to it, no satisfactory conclusion can be formed on this point. Some antiquarians are of opinion, that the strongest claims are presented by the Phoenicians.

6. The Pentateuch embraces the earliest specimen of phonetic or alphabetic writing now extant, and this was written about 1500 years before Christ. Many persons suppose that, as the Deity himself inscribed the ten commandments on the two tables of stone, he taught Moses the use of letters; and, on this supposition, is founded the claim of the Jewish nation to the honor of the first human application of them.

7. If we may believe Pliny, sixteen characters of the alphabet were introduced into Greece by Cadmus, the Phoenician, in the days of Moses; four more were added by Palamedes during the Trojan war, and four afterwards, by Simonides. Alphabetical writing evidently sprung from successive improvements in the hieroglyphical system, since a great part of the latter has been lately discovered to be syllabic or alphabetic.

8. A considerable number of very ancient alphabets still exist on the monumental remains of some of the first post-diluvian cities, and several of later date, in manuscripts which have descended to our times. The letters employed in different languages have ever been subject to great changes in their conformation. This was especially the case before the introduction of the art of printing, which has contributed greatly towards permanency in this respect.

9. The mode of arranging the letters in writing has, also, varied considerably. Some nations have written in perpendicular lines, as the Chinese and ancient Egyptians; others from right to left, as the Jews; and others, again, alternately from left to right, as was the method at one period among the Greeks. The mode of writing from left to right now generally practised, is preferable to any other, since it leaves uncovered that portion of the page upon which writing has been made.

10. In ancient times, literary productions were considered public property; and, consequently, as soon as a work was published, transcribers assumed the right to multiply copies at pleasure, without making the authors the least remuneration. They, however, were sometimes rewarded with great liberality, by princes or wealthy patrons. This literary piracy continued, until a long time after the introduction of the art of printing.

11. In almost every kingdom of Europe, and in the United States, the exclusive right of authors to publish their own productions, is now secured to them by law, at least for a specified number of years. The first legislative proceeding on this subject in England, took place in 1662, when the publication of any book was prohibited, except through the permission of the lord-chamberlain. The title of the book, and the name of the proprietor, were, also, required to be entered in the record of the Stationers' Company.

12. This and some subsequent acts having been repealed in 1691, literary property was left to the protection of the common law, by which the amount of damages which could be proved to have actually occurred in case of infringement, could be recovered, and no more. New applications were, therefore, made to parliament; and, in 1709, a statute was passed, by which the property of copyright was guarded for fourteen years, with severe penalties. This privilege was connected with the condition, that a copy of the work be deposited in nine public libraries specified in the act.

13. In 1774, the Parliament decided that, at the end of fourteen years, the copyright might be renewed, in case the author were still living. The law continued on this footing until 1814, when the contingency with regard to the last fourteen years was removed; and, if the author still survived, the privilege of publication was extended to the close of his life.

14. In the United States, the jurisdiction of this subject is vested by the Constitution in the Federal Government; and, in 1790, a law was passed by Congress, securing to the authors of books, charts, maps, engravings, &c., being citizens of the United States or resident therein, privileges like those granted in England, in 1774. In 1831, the law was altered, and again made to conform to that of England in regard to the period of the privileges. The English and American laws differ in no essential provision. Until the year 1839, foreigners were permitted to hold copyrights in England.

15. In France, the first statute regarding literary property was passed in 1793, when the right of authors to their works was secured to them during their lives, and to their heirs for ten years after their decease. The decree of 1810 extended the right of the heirs to twenty years. In Russia, the period of copyright is the same as in France, and the property is not liable for the payment of the author's debts.

16. In some of the German states, the right is given for the lifetime of the author; in others, it is made perpetual, like any other property; but then the work may be printed with impunity in any of the other states in which a right has not been secured. In Germany and Italy, especially, authors are very poorly remunerated; and in Spain, the book trade has been so much oppressed by a merciless censorship, that authors are compelled to publish their works on their own account.

17. From the preceding statement it appears, that few legislators have been willing to place the productions of intellectual labor on the same honorable footing with other kinds of property. No reason, however, can be assigned for the distinction, except the unjust and piratical usage of two or three thousand years.

18. Authors seldom publish their own works. They generally find it expedient, and, in fact, necessary, to intrust this part of the business to booksellers and publishers, from whom they usually receive a specified amount for the entire copyright, or a certain sum for each and every copy which may be sold during the term of years which may be agreed upon. The compensation is commonly insufficient to pay them for preparing the works for the press; but they are as well paid in this country as in any other. In this particular, however, there has been a manifest improvement within the last ten years.

THE PRINTER.