DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73058#0123
Coffer- and Steelplate Printing.
same material has been previously applied. It is a curious fact, that although whiting not
only facilitates the cleaning, but gives a more brilliant face to a print from a copperplate, it
is totally unsuitable for printing with the steel plate, the impressions from which, if treated
with whiting, are blurred or broken, or, as it is termed, " rotten." For very delicate work a
piece of wash-leather is occasionally used after the leno. It is necessary, in order to render
the printing inl< sufficiently soft, to heat the plate before it is applied, and this, until about
five and twenty years ago, was done over a charcoal stove, which took some three and four
hours each day to prepare. Mr. Brooker was the first copperplate printer to substitute
gas for the troublesome and somewhat expensive charcoal stove, and it is to Mr. Brooker
also that copperplate printers are indebted for the use of whiting for the lessening of their
labour. The paper to receive the impressions is invariably damped before printing,
sufficient time being allowed for the moisture to soak evenly through. The plate having
been charged with ink and cleaned as described, is laid, face upwards, on to the bed of the
press, with the paper to receive the impression carefully adjusted in its place, and "pulled
through," during which operation the plate is protected from the injury which might occur
from inequalities in the paper or the introduction of foreign matter, by several thicknesses
of soft blanket placed between it and the roller; a better and more uniform impression is
also insured by this addition to the press.
By judicious wiping, a plate may be either lightened or darkened in parts, as desired ;
and by the use of a thick dense ink and extra pressure in the printing, termed " forcing,"
impressions from worn plates may be much strengthened. Mr. Cousins leaves nothing to
the printer: "All I want is what is in the plate," he sternly remarks, if anything be said
on the subject.
The wearing of a copperplate does not take place in printing—that is, in the actual
passing of the plate through the press,—but in the wiping, scrubbing, and polishing to
which it is subjected before each impression, in order to remove the ink from the
surface of the plate.
Since the introduction of steel-facing,* a copperplate may be said to practically last
* Steel-facing was invented by Monsieur Garnier, who, in 1859, sold the English patent to Monsieur F. Joubert, to
whom, in the same year, the Society of Arts awarded its silver medal.
for ever ; for as soon as the harder metal begins to wear and shows the underlying copper,
it is re-faced, and the process may be repeated as often as desired.
Printing in black, or in one colour, requires judgment and dexterity; but printing in
several colours, the history of which is given in another place,* supposes the printer to be
* See Chapter XXXIV., "Falsely-tinted Prints, and How to Distinguish."
himself a painter. A whole day was sometimes employed in the production of a single
coloured impression. The painter-printer had a coloured pattern before him as a guide,
and a number of pots containing the printing inks to be employed. He then set to work
and, strictly following his copy, laboriously painted into the copperplate itself the various
coloured inks, until the whole of the engraved work was filled in. Printing inks dry very
slowly, so that there was little danger of the pigments hardening before the impression
97 could
VOL. I. H
same material has been previously applied. It is a curious fact, that although whiting not
only facilitates the cleaning, but gives a more brilliant face to a print from a copperplate, it
is totally unsuitable for printing with the steel plate, the impressions from which, if treated
with whiting, are blurred or broken, or, as it is termed, " rotten." For very delicate work a
piece of wash-leather is occasionally used after the leno. It is necessary, in order to render
the printing inl< sufficiently soft, to heat the plate before it is applied, and this, until about
five and twenty years ago, was done over a charcoal stove, which took some three and four
hours each day to prepare. Mr. Brooker was the first copperplate printer to substitute
gas for the troublesome and somewhat expensive charcoal stove, and it is to Mr. Brooker
also that copperplate printers are indebted for the use of whiting for the lessening of their
labour. The paper to receive the impressions is invariably damped before printing,
sufficient time being allowed for the moisture to soak evenly through. The plate having
been charged with ink and cleaned as described, is laid, face upwards, on to the bed of the
press, with the paper to receive the impression carefully adjusted in its place, and "pulled
through," during which operation the plate is protected from the injury which might occur
from inequalities in the paper or the introduction of foreign matter, by several thicknesses
of soft blanket placed between it and the roller; a better and more uniform impression is
also insured by this addition to the press.
By judicious wiping, a plate may be either lightened or darkened in parts, as desired ;
and by the use of a thick dense ink and extra pressure in the printing, termed " forcing,"
impressions from worn plates may be much strengthened. Mr. Cousins leaves nothing to
the printer: "All I want is what is in the plate," he sternly remarks, if anything be said
on the subject.
The wearing of a copperplate does not take place in printing—that is, in the actual
passing of the plate through the press,—but in the wiping, scrubbing, and polishing to
which it is subjected before each impression, in order to remove the ink from the
surface of the plate.
Since the introduction of steel-facing,* a copperplate may be said to practically last
* Steel-facing was invented by Monsieur Garnier, who, in 1859, sold the English patent to Monsieur F. Joubert, to
whom, in the same year, the Society of Arts awarded its silver medal.
for ever ; for as soon as the harder metal begins to wear and shows the underlying copper,
it is re-faced, and the process may be repeated as often as desired.
Printing in black, or in one colour, requires judgment and dexterity; but printing in
several colours, the history of which is given in another place,* supposes the printer to be
* See Chapter XXXIV., "Falsely-tinted Prints, and How to Distinguish."
himself a painter. A whole day was sometimes employed in the production of a single
coloured impression. The painter-printer had a coloured pattern before him as a guide,
and a number of pots containing the printing inks to be employed. He then set to work
and, strictly following his copy, laboriously painted into the copperplate itself the various
coloured inks, until the whole of the engraved work was filled in. Printing inks dry very
slowly, so that there was little danger of the pigments hardening before the impression
97 could
VOL. I. H