HF The History of Photography 600pág

546 Photography and the printed page
process, replacing his metal plate by grained lithographic stone, and coating it with
a solution of bitumen of Judea in ether (instead of oil of lavender). After exposure
under a negative, ether was used as the dissolvent. The stone was then etched with
acid and inked. The parts where the bitumen, made insoluble by light, had prevented
the action of the acid 'took' the ink. In 18 54 Lemercier published under the title
Lithophotographie26 the first six prints, each 33 cm. x 23 cm., of which one was a detail
of Chartres cathedral. They showed good half-tone, but the process was later
abandoned in favour of Poitevin's, because only a limited number of proofs could be
pulled.
ALPHONSE POITEVIN introduced an entirely new method in August 1855, based on
his discovery that bichromated gelatine, glue, albumen, or gum become not only
insoluble when acted on by light, but also water repellent, whilst the parts unaffected
by light retain their normal property of absorbing water. He found further that when
such a coating, after exposure under a negative, was moistened and greasy lithographic
ink applied, it adhered to those parts which had been acted on by light and
which were water repellent, but not to those which were unaffected by light and
therefore moist. The stone-which acted merely as a support for the printing surfacewas
then treated by the usual lithographic method of slight acidulation and rolling
up with greasy ink for printing.
In October 1855 Poitevin started a small photolithographic printing establishment
in Paris, where he produced a large number of plates for a variety of publications,
including an album of forty-five plates of terracottas, plates of Gothic architecture
from photographs by Bisson and Berthier, a series of landscapes from waxed-paper
negatives by Comte Aguado, Egyptian stone inscriptions at the Louvre, etc. He could
pull 300 copies from each stone.27 Exactly two years later, when pressed for money
for further inventions, he sold his patent rights for 20,000 francs to Lemercier, who
being an experienced lithographer got 700 copies from each stone.
JOHN POUNCY's Dorsetshire Photographically Illustrated was the first book illustrated
by photolithography to be published in Britain. A survey of mansions, churches, and
other places of interest in Dorset, the work was published by subscription in four
parts (two oblong folio volumes) in 1857, the first volume containing thirty-nine and
the second forty plates. 'The detail and touch of nature faithfully reproduced by a
new process on stone by which views are rendered truthful, artistic, and durable.'
However, photography did only part of the work and Pouncy himself admitted as
much in stating that he 'has engaged artists of high standing to assist him in carrying
out his new process of photographs on stone'. As far as we know, Pouncy's rare book
was not only the first but remained the only attempt in book form to reproduce
photographic views from nature by photolithography.
The second book to be illustrated by photolithography in Britain was not concerned
with representing half-tone. It was a facsimile of 'Hamlet, photographed and
transferred to stone and from stone to paper by Mr Netherclift'. Only forty copies
were made by J. N etherclift & Son, for the Duke of Devonshire, in 185 8.
In September 1859 J. w. OSBORNE, head of the Government Survey Office in
Melbourne, introduced a modification of E. 1. ASSER's transfer process, for the reproduction
of government plans and maps. Two months later he read a paper on this
application to the Philosophical Institute of Melbourne. The image was formed on
transfer paper coated with bichromated gelatine, and then transferred to stone. This
method allowed a much greater number of impressions to be taken-an edition of
2,000 to 3,000 as against Lemercier's 700 by Poitevin's process. Osborne stated that
the reduction of a map by a draftsman required three and a half days and cost