Studio: international art (39.1907)

The Art of Printing Etchings

immersion in the acid. The plate is handed to
the printer, who cleans it, and produces from it the
various " proofs." To do this he requires a print-
ing press, ink and paper, technical skill, personal
ability, and a long experience.

The press now in use is made of iron with a
large flywheel and lever, or "cross." The pressure
is applied by means of a roller, which passes over
an iron bed, or "plank," covered with a thin zinc
plate, upon which the engraved plate rests. The
damp soft paper is laid on the etched surface and
squeezed into the lines by the roller, the pressure
being distributed by a set of soft cloths, which are
interposed. The plate has been already inked and
wiped, and its passage through the press is the last
stage of the work. Originally the press was made

of wood, a material which was still used after the
introduction of the roller, probably by Finiguerra.
Wood was used by Abraham Bosse in the middle
of the seventeenth century, and long afterwards.
About the beginning of the nineteenth century a
cogwheel was attached to the roller, and pinions to
the "cross," thus increasing the leverage, and by
degrees the whole came to be made of iron and
developed into the present machine, with its com-
pound gear, fly-wheel and cogs. There are now two
rollers, the lower being the larger, and pressure is
regulated by screws acting on the spindles of the
upper one. Some elasticity is given to it by a series
of blocks and cards inserted in the " cheeks " of the
press, but it is actually transmitted and distributed
by the "blanketing," or series of cloths which are