A HANDBOOK OF 
 ILLUSTRATION 
 
 BY 
 
 A. HORSLEY HINTON 
 
 tii * 
 
 WITH REPRO- 
 DUCTIONS 
 FROM 
 PHOTOGRAMS 
 AND SKETCHES 
 BY THE AUTHOR 
 AND OTHER ARTISTS 
 
 NEW YORK, U. S. A. 
 
 GENNERT, 24 and 20 EAST THIRTEENTH ST. 
 
 LONDON, ENG. 
 
 DAWBAKN & WARD, LIMITED 
 

A HANDBOOK OF 
 ILLUSTRATION 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Introduction.— Primitive illustrations— Art and illustration- 
 influence in photography— Illustrations from the Author’s aspect— Some 
 uses of illustration. 
 
 CHAPTER II.— A Neglected Field. 
 
 CHAPTER III.— Theory and Principles of Illustration.— Different kinds 
 of illustration — Maps or plans — Scientific diagrams — Topographical views — 
 In fiction— Author and Illustrator— Pictorial or artistic— Decorative— The 
 “Two things.” 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— Reproduction by Half-tone Process.— Processes other 
 than photo-mechanical — The object of mechanical process — Intaglio, relief, 
 and separate printing process— Description of half-tone process— The 
 screen— Printing on the gelatine— Development— Etching— Inherent disad- 
 vantage of the screen— Cutting out lights— Comparative results. 
 
 CHAPTER V.— Preparation of Originals for Reproduction by Half- 
 tone.— I.— Photograms— The best kind of Photograms for reproduction— 
 Negative and print— Legitimate hand work— Relieving the shadows— Help- 
 ing the high ltght and shadows— Application of photograms— “Stopping 
 out” — Backgrounds not essential— Composition and arrangement — Deco- 
 rative initials, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— Preparation of Originals for Half-tone. II.— Wash 
 drawings, oil paintings, pencil and other drawings— Character of wash 
 drawing or grey surface — Monochrome oil painting — Painting on a photo- 
 graphic basis— Mixed drawings— Pencil drawings— Coloured sketches for 
 illustration — Thin reproduction. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. — Line Process. — Requirements of the process — The processes 
 described: Gelatine, Albumen, and Bitumen — Copying, printing, develop- 
 ing, mounting — Description of the cop}' negative — Reduction — Diminishing 
 glasses — Pencil marks, &c. — Non-photographic methods. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.— Methods of Line Reproduction. I.— Pen-and-ink draw- 
 ing— Character of line drawings — “Tone” interpreted into line— Various 
 styles of line — Suggestion of colour, textures. &c.— The art of leaving out — 
 What to copy and study — Line shading— Flat tints— Outlines— Reduction 
 and thickening. 
 
 CHAPTER IX.— Materials for Simple Line Drawing.— Papers and card- 
 boards — Inks and fluids — Pens. 
 
 CHAPTER X.— Comparison of Line Processes.— Some characteristics of 
 each described, and results in each compared — The roulette. 
 
 CHAPTER XI.— Other Methods for Line Reproduction. The Mate- 
 rials Required. — Mechanical tints — Their application— “Splatter” work— 
 How produced — Grained clay surface boards or “scrape” boards — Their 
 use described — Pencil and chalk drawing for line reproduction. 
 
 CHAPTER XII.— Mechanical Aids to Drawing.— Methods of tracing from 
 a photogram — Drawing on a photogram — Drawing on a “blue” print — 
 Tracing on transfer paper — Drawing from nature — Conclusion. 
 

 
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A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRO D UCTION — THE AR T OF ILL USTRA TION. 
 
 I NTRODUCED to this country, in round numbers, some 
 fifty years ago, Photography has progressed beyond 
 its contemporaries of the present century. It has ob- 
 tained a hold upon the people, entering equally into their 
 work and their amusements; the speed, the reality, the 
 brilliancy of it fit it peculiarly for the age into which it 
 has been born. It has survived, and will survive, amidst 
 the decay of other things, because of its extraordinary 
 adaptability to changing circumstances, its readiness to 
 meet altering tastes and requirements; versatile in aspect, 
 elastic in its application. 
 
 Amidst all its adaptations of modern date, in none has 
 it been more successful than in that to which this book is 
 devoted: that wherein photography, directly or indirectly, 
 is employed to introduce into our literature expressions 
 of thought, which are better so conveyed than by written 
 or printed words. Be the language never so rich in 
 words, or the writer’s power in using them never so great, 
 a clearer and a more lasting impression may be conveyed, 
 even to the cultivated, and certainly to the popular mind, 
 by the arrangement of lines and markings in such form 
 as may be felt to actually represent the objects, and in- 
 dicate the relative position and size of other objects or 
 parts of the same. 
 
 7 
 
8 A HA NDBOOK OF ILL USTRA TLO N. 
 
 This may be said to be the primary and normal func- 
 tion of an Illustration. Throughout the pages of this 
 book, and to whatever extent the student may practise 
 the methods herein described, it may be well to keep very 
 clearly in mind the legitimate function of an illustration, 
 namely: to describe, to portray, and to do this chiefly as 
 an auxiliary to written language. 
 
 To such a kind belongs the rude seratchings of the 
 primaeval man, whose limited powers of speech forbade 
 his adequately describing - the forms of those creatures 
 whose pursuit meant life, whose disregard would mean 
 death, and of such kind were the hieroglyphics of the 
 East. Nay, who shall say that the very forms of letters 
 themselves are not the outcome of early effort to convey 
 to the eye of another what might otherwise only have been 
 imperfectly communicated through other senses: a means 
 to an end, a servant, a tool, in the hands of him who 
 would wield it. 
 
 But in the beginning there was a making of drawings 
 and designs which had another purpose. The gourd, or 
 rough clay vessel, was graved and marked with devices 
 and forms suggested by the curves and shapes in Nature, 
 but this was merely for decoration; to please the eye, and 
 not to serve any purpose but to give pleasure. A means 
 to an end in this sense perhaps, but note that the end was 
 in the commencement of it, and went no further after 
 completion; it gave pleasure to the beholder and no more, 
 and nothing more was intended or asked. Thus was Art 
 born — not to teach, nor to explain, nor to illustrate. 
 
 Nor is this distinction out of place in the present work. 
 The tendency to-day is too often to make a pretty picture 
 rather than a good illustration ; to sacrifice accuracy to 
 beauty; to strive rather after the aesthetic pleasure in art, 
 than the truth and fidelity of illustration. The artist is 
 what he is from the possession of certain instinctive at- 
 tributes which he is powerless to teach to another, where- 
 as the simpler and expressive forms of draughtsmanship 
 may be attained by almost all. From confusing art with 
 
AN ESSEX LANDSCAPE. 
 
 Half-tone from oil sketch in mo?iochromt. ( Original ioJ4 x 6%~). [See p. 51 . 
 
io A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 illustration we find a man saying “I cannot do this, or 
 that, because I am no artist, ’’and it is with a hope of 
 placing in the hands of such, at least to some extent, a 
 means of graphic expression, that the present book has 
 been undertaken. 
 
 Take also such a simple matter as a letter from a friend, 
 and notice how often words alone fail to convey a correct 
 impression, yet a few lines of simple form at once present 
 a graphic description. 
 
 Mr. Blackburn gives a capital example of such a case in 
 his Art of Illustration. ’ He says: “A newspaper cor- 
 respondent is in a boat on one of the Italian lakes, and 
 wishes to describe the scene on a calm summer day. 
 This is how he proceeds: 
 
 “ <We are shut in by mountains,’ he says, ‘but the blue 
 lake seems as wide as the sea. On a rocky promontory 
 
 on the left hand the trees grow 
 down to the water’s edge and 
 the banks are precipitous, indic- 
 ating the great depth of this 
 part of the lake. The water is 
 as smooth as glass; on its surface is one vessel, a heavily 
 laden market boat’ (and so on). There is no need to re- 
 peat it all; but when half a column of word-painting had 
 been written (and well written) the correspondent failed 
 to present the picture clearly to the eye without these 
 four explanatory lines (no more) which should of course 
 have been sent with his letter.” 
 
 In the same way small sketch plans (no matter how 
 roughly made) are of great assistance in describing the 
 position of a fire, a murder, or anything else of public 
 importance; not to mention the value such descriptive 
 lines often are in private letters. 
 
 Whilst, then, Art and Illustration are distinct, and 
 much of the latter may be within the reach of many to 
 whom the former is impossible, there is no reason why 
 either should needlessly offend the canons of the other. 
 Art — seeking, as it should, to awaken a sense of pleasure 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA LION. 1 1 
 
 in the beautiful- — adheres to truth, in idea if not in fact. 
 Illustration, which portrays fact truthfully, may yet do so 
 in such manner as shall not annoy the cultivated and ar- 
 tistic senses; and this is the art of illustration. 
 
 Here, as in other matters, much depends on a knowl- 
 edge and exercise of the mere technique or craftsman- 
 ship: the means to be employed, and the manner of em- 
 ploying them. 
 
 With pen or pencil we might satisfactorily produce 
 such a diagram or drawing as should illustrate our speech, 
 but the exigencies of such gigantic institutions of civil- 
 isation as books, magazines, and newspapers, demand 
 that the same illustration shall be presented to thousands 
 of readers at the same time. In former times the original 
 drawing was copied by craftsmen on to wood or metal, 
 and then carved so that a “block,” containing the design 
 in relief, might be set up in the printing press and printed 
 in conjunction with the letterpress type. 
 
 Wonderful skill did the wood-engraver acquire in re- 
 producing the original and in interpreting the artist’s 
 idea; but his work took time, which had to be paid for, 
 and sometimes the artist found that in passing through 
 the intermediary wood-engraver, his intention had been 
 wrongly construed, and even a departure made from the 
 accuracy of his drawing. Then came Photography, and 
 it was found possible to photograph the original on to the 
 surface of the block instead of drawing it. It was next 
 found possible, under given conditions, to substitute for 
 the engraver a purely mechanical means, whereby the 
 surface of the block was suitably carved to print with ink 
 the requisite design. 
 
 Thus a photographic and chemical process supplants the 
 hand-work of the engraver, and a perfect replica of the 
 original, in no way dependent upon the personal ability 
 of the engraver, is obtained. The same process, working 
 blindly, produces a facsimile equivalent to the artist’s 
 own drawing; and does so with such speed, and at such 
 small expense, that for one penny we may purchase to-day 
 
12 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 a newspaper filled with exact copies of drawings of events 
 which happened only yesterday. Thousands of books and 
 papers, the world over, are now replete with illustrations: 
 the expense of producing which by the older methods 
 would have made impossible such welcome additions to 
 the printed page. 
 
 Nor does it appear that the gigantic dimensions, and 
 high state of perfection, which Process illustration has 
 reached, in any way represents the limit of its possibili- 
 ties in either respect. It has been reasonably conjectured 
 that in the near future every newspaper and periodical 
 publication will be illustrated, and almost each day sees 
 some advancement, some improvement, in the daily prac- 
 tice of the various processes of reproduction, so that in 
 writing a book of the present kind it is difficult to keep 
 the information therein contained fully abreast of the 
 times. While it is in the hands of the printer some new 
 thing may be found out, some new application of a 
 method successfully attempted, which shall make the 
 novelty of yesterday give place to the invention of to-day. 
 
 The pride of the litterateur may make him feel that the 
 use of pictures, as an assistance to writing, indicates in- 
 capacity or feebleness on the part of the author. Yet, 
 able as is the description of such familiar characters as 
 Mr. Pecksniff, Pickwick, Jingle, and others, how various 
 would have been the idea conjured up by different readers, 
 were it not for the inimitable drawings of Cruickshank 
 or “Phiz.” Were not Shakespeare’s characters intended 
 to be illustrated— not by drawings perhaps, but by “living 
 pictures” ? 
 
 And, finally, out of the simple instruments for illustra- 
 tion there has been evolved a greater thing. The same 
 means as are employed to reproduce the draughtsman’s 
 drawing, may also reproduce, and place in the hands of 
 the multitude, reproductions of the works of great master 
 artists; so that something of the treasures of the Pitti, 
 and the Louvre, may be seen in English homes to day. 
 The same simple methods, used for mere illustration, 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 13 
 
 have been wrestled with by those who possess art as a 
 birthright from the gods, and through their efforts out- 
 books may now contain pictures (process reproductions) 
 which are full of fine artistic feeling; not merely illustrat- 
 ing the text, but awakening a sense of pleasure and ex- 
 altation at the representation of nature’s beauties. De- 
 corative pages, ornate with noble designs, brighten a book 
 like gleaming crystals in a rich but dark mine, and re- 
 lieve the monotony of too perfect a symmetry. A chapter 
 heading, a tail piece, a decorated initial, and here and 
 there a picture page, exert an influence like sparkling 
 spring and smiling flowers, for joy and sweet refreshment 
 by the way. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 A NEGLECTED FIELD. 
 
 FORM of book illustration too much neglected, and 
 
 one possessing peculiar advantages, is Margina 
 Illustration. Decorated or illustrated margins may be 
 associated in idea with the early monastic work, when 
 the solitude and gloom of the recluse’s life was relieved 
 by the little enjoyment which must have attended the 
 illumination of holy books, but it is not quite the purely 
 decorative to which I would refer. 
 
 In some modern editions, in which an old style is 
 affected, a wide margin on the top, bottom, and outer 
 edge of the letterpress is preserved so wide that ample 
 space might be found to introduce such trifling illustra- 
 tions as would be amply sufficient to fix an impression or 
 suggest to the imagination of the reader ideas which the 
 mere letterpress might fail to awaken. 
 
 Too often our illustrations in books are separated from 
 the text to such a degree that a continuity of idea is all 
 but impossible. We read, perhaps— “Night wanes— the 
 vapours round the mountains curl’d melt into morn, and 
 Light awakes the world. Man has another day to swell 
 the past,’’ &c., &c., &c. ; but long before we come to the 
 page which illustrates this delightfully pictorial passage 
 from one of Lord Byron’s romantic works we read — “ ’Tis 
 morn— ’tis noon— assembled in the hall, The gathered 
 

 
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 | Night wanes — the vapours round the mountains curl'c 
 
 | Melt into morn, and Light awakes the world, 
 jS Man has another day to swell the past, 
 
 % And lead him near to little, but his last ; 
 
 But mighty Nature bounds as from her birth, 
 
 The sun is in the heavens and life on earth ; 'll 
 ^ Flowers in the valley, splendour in the beam, /]| 
 l Health on the gale, and freshness in the stream. 
 
 Immortal Man I behold her glories shine, 
 
 | And cry exulting inly, " They are thine 
 Gaze on, while yet thy gladden’d eye may 
 f A morrow comes when they are not for thee - 
 And grieve what may above thy senseless bier, fe 
 I Nor earth nor sky will yield a single tear ; --=111: 
 
 0 Nor cloud shall gather more nor leaf shall fall;f|f§| 1 | 
 y Nor gale breathe forth one sigh for thee, for all^lB;| 
 jjp But cySfpSa) things shall revel in their spoil, 
 
 I S) And fit thyi jclay to fertilize the(^ilp 
 
 , 1 1 , 
 
 if hi 
 
 Tis morn — ’tis noon — assembled in the' hall , 
 The gather’d chieftains come to Otho’s call ; 
 ’Tis now the promised hour that must proclaim 
 The life or death of Lara’s future fame . 
 
 When Ezzelin his charge may here unfold, 
 
 v ' nT T ' HipBinr — ■ — 
 
 ... C W 
 
 
 -j 
 
 LINE REPRODUCTION FROM PEN SKETCH. 
 ( Original 13x9 inches .) 
 
16 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 chieftains come to Otho’s call:” and not perhaps until we 
 have passed the third or fourth stanza, and are trying to 
 picture in our minds the brilliant assemblage of Spanish 
 chieftains, and the fierce challenge of the accused Lara 
 terminating with “Demand thy life!” do we turn over a 
 page and confront a dainty illustration of the opening 
 lines “Night wanes, ' ' &c. — an interruption as undesirable 
 and distracting as when the lecturer, through some mis- 
 take in the arranging of his lantern slides, sees projected 
 on the screen a photogram of' the grim walls of Newgate 
 Prison, when, with the words “I will now show you a 
 picture of where some of England's heroes have found a 
 resting-place,” he expected his assistant to put up a slide 
 of Westminster Abbey- It is not always possible even to 
 get our book illustrations to face the matter which refers 
 to it, and even if that can be arranged, or the illustration 
 can actually come into the same page, the act of turning 
 from text to picture means an interruption and severing 
 the continuous thought. Could our illustrations appear 
 in the margin, between the lines, mingled with the letter- 
 press, how smoothly we might read the illustrations along 
 with the text, and how bright and pleasing would the 
 pages appear! 
 
 I have given a specimen page which may serve to bet- 
 ter show the idea. 
 
 We will suppose some book of travel or poetry be set 
 up in type by the printer, and a proof cop3 r be made up 
 with broad margins under the direction of the illustrator, 
 who then takes it in hand and decorates each page as de- 
 sired; or the pages are pulled as proofs on two or three 
 kinds of paper, smooth for pen work, rough for crayon, or 
 medium for washdrawings — what delightful variety might 
 be secured! When the astist has added his marginal and 
 inter-paragraph illustrations the pages are photo-repro- 
 duced, the complete block including both letterpress and 
 drawings. 
 
 Of course the illustrations, if confined to the margins, 
 could be reproduced separate!}', and set up with the type 
 
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 p V" 
 
1 8 A HA NO HOOK OF ILL US TRA TIOA. 
 
 in the same form. In the example I have given on page 
 15, the letterpress was set up by the printer to occupy a 
 given space, the type used being a clear, bold letter. 
 This was printed from on two or three kinds of paper, 
 and handed to me to add the illustrative matter. The 
 proof used was about thirteen by nine inches, and this was 
 subsequently reproduced by a simple zinco process to the 
 size here shown. 
 
 Of course the amount of letterpress possible on each 
 page is small if the illustrating be carried to any great 
 extent. An edition of Shakespeare’s works treated in 
 this fashion would of itself constitute a small library, but 
 for smaller works, or for single plays or single poems, 
 many a plain piece of reading might be by such means 
 converted into a very delightful and beloved book. 
 
 I have often thought that in fiction, when we read 
 that the dainty little billet deux slipped under the door, 
 written in my lady’s delicate and graceful style; or, the 
 mysterious letter handed to the hero written in a strange 
 handwriting “ran as follows,’’ how much more forcible 
 the thing would be if the author had given us a facsimile 
 of the letter. I never read a letter in a story without 
 feeling it was the author of the romance, instead of the 
 character in the book, who composed the letter. Thus an 
 author might, in addition to feature, figure, and dress, 
 give us a fine suggestion of his dramatis personae by show- 
 ing a little bit of their handwriting. 
 
 \ 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE THEORY AND PRINCIPLES OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 H ERE it will probably be well to consider the different 
 classes into which illustrations naturally seem to 
 fall, and this because it is the common custom to regard 
 the contents of an illustrated book as all belonging to one. 
 
 Perhaps the simplest and most spontaneous form of 
 illustration is seen when one is describing a position or 
 locality, and takes pencil and paper to draw a rough 
 plan showing this or that road, cross-road, turning, &c. 
 We do this without any forethought, without any artistic 
 ability, and never for a moment considering that we are 
 fulfilling the first theoretical function of the illustrator, 
 and we make this sketch-plan partly because we could not 
 so graphically describe what we wish in words; and, again, 
 the drawing will produce a more lasting impression upon 
 the person appealed to, and that without so great an 
 effort of memory on his part. “Seeing is believing,’’ 
 and to see is also to remember. It is the same with the 
 diagrams which illustrate the problems of Euclid, a tour- 
 ist’s map, an architect’s plan ; these are all illustrations of 
 a diagrammatic kind. 
 
 Only a little higher in the scale are the illustrations in 
 scientific and physiological books. I say higher , because 
 
20 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 of the difficulties attaching to the photographing- of such 
 objects, and their more complex forms, which sometimes 
 necessitate their being drawn from the objects at first 
 hand by one possessing some amount of skill as a draughts- 
 man. But the intention is to explain the text, added to 
 which is perhaps the special office of enabling the student 
 to recognise and identify the particular animal or vege- 
 table structure, or a certain rock formation or crystal, 
 when found; for which purpose it is of primary import- 
 ance that the essential and specific characters of the par- 
 ticular object are carefully portrayed, and the entire figure 
 be of faultless accuracy. 
 
 This same quality must also be secured in topographi- 
 cal views with which the book of travels, with its descrip- 
 tion of far-distant places and people, is illustrated ; it is 
 in this class of drawings that there is most d;mger of a 
 desire to make a pretty picture — overwhelming the purely 
 descriptive or explanatory function. 
 
 The representation of the principal characters in a 
 story, with which it is the custom to illustrate a novel or 
 work of fiction, has often appeared to me to be one of the 
 least successful departments of illustration. Probably 
 this arises from the fact that the artist has no actual 
 models to work from; he creates, out of the author’s de- 
 scription, imaginary beings, and portrays them accord- 
 ingly. Therefore, unless author and artist have been in 
 very close communication, it is as likely as not that the 
 artist may get a conception of certain characters quite re- 
 mote from the author's intention. At least, it must have 
 occurred to many a reader to find the pictures in a favour- 
 ite novel often quite fail to realise the ideal which he had 
 himself formed of the hero or heroine, of whom, at the very 
 outset, he had conjured up an image and an environment. 
 
 Somewhat lately the experiment has been made of 
 illustrating fiction with actual photograms from life, in 
 which case the illustrator must select with great care in- 
 dividuals answering very exactly to the descriptions 
 given, and use these as models grouped as required. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 21 
 
 Obvious])’ this method must be confined to such books 
 whose plot is laid in comparatively recent times and in 
 ordinary scenes of life; for the difficulties, which are in 
 any case great, assume insurmountable proportions when 
 one conceives the idea of illustrating by photograms such 
 books as “Robinson Crusoe, ’’ “Pilgrim’s Progress,’’ or 
 “ Don Quixote. ’’ 
 
 The ideal condition would be for the author to illustrate 
 his own writings, then indeed should we be sure of getting 
 
 PEN DRAWING BY W. T. WHITEHEAD. 
 ( Original 8 x 5.) 
 
 a glimpse of the character intended; and we can imagine 
 with what care he would fashion the child of his imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 Failing this, the author should control to a greater ex- 
 tent the work of the man who is to illustrate his writings, 
 a point far too often overlooked in the making of a book. 
 
 It will be seen that in this section of illustration the 
 draughtsman draws upon his imagination, so that, to some 
 extent at least, his art is creative. It must, however, be 
 borne in mind that he is not at liberty to paint or draw 
 
22 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 his own unaided imaginings; he is merely interpreting 
 another’s words into a graphic representation; so that, 
 be he never so fine an artist, his art, like Pegasus in har- 
 ness, is restrained under the yoke of the illustrator. 
 
 We may, however, find illustration ascending a step 
 higher towards the sphere of art proper and creative, and 
 that is in the edition de luxe , in which, with or without 
 printed matter, we have plates which are pictures in the 
 best sense, and appeal chiefly, or exclusively, to the 
 aesthetic sense. Also in some dramatic works, in poetry, 
 and in some prose, there is a much wider scope for the 
 imagination of the artist, and we have high-class books of 
 a real artistic merit. 
 
 PEN DRAWING BY W. T. WHITEHEAD. 
 ( Original 8x2.) 
 
 One other notable form of illustration remains, and 
 that is the purely decorative. This is seen to advantage 
 in the book-plates in which a device bears the name of 
 the owner and is affixed to each bock; to revive which 
 custom an effort has happily been made of late. In alle- 
 gorical figures and scrollwork on title-pages, at heads of 
 chapters, in borders, in large initial letters, at the termi- 
 nation of a chapter, or a design interspersed with the type 
 on a page, and in many other forms beyond the prescribed 
 shape which its position determines, there is little to re- 
 strict the artist. Some examples of designs for book- 
 plates were recently given in that excellent magazine The 
 Studio; and some interesting and wholly praiseworthy 
 “initials,” formed on an actual photogram, appeared re- 
 cently in The Photogram. These are two instances out of 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRA TION. 
 
 23 
 
 the many which 
 may be seen on 
 every hand, and 
 in this connec- 
 tion I have long 
 felt that photo- 
 grams from na- 
 ture might be 
 more largely ap- 
 plied to book il- 
 lustration or de- 
 coration. 
 
 Thus I have en- 
 deavoured to in- 
 dicate the princi- 
 pal uses of illus- 
 trations. Now in 
 every work of art, 
 its strength and 
 its success are de- 
 pendent in a great 
 measure upon its 
 composition and purpose possessing simplicity and unity, 
 and I think that it cannot be too deeply impressed upon 
 the illustrator that singleness of purpose will be a strong 
 contributory to success. 
 
 If the purpose of the illustration be to explain or to de- 
 scribe, then let it do that at the sacrifice, if need be, of all 
 else; and if, at the same time, it be possible to introduce 
 such qualities as will make it void of offence to the more 
 cultivated eye, so much the better; but the particular aim 
 and intention must be paramount. In like manner, if the 
 illustration be for purely ornamental purposes, or purely 
 pictorial, giving pleasure to the eye and the sense of 
 beauty: then to attempt to make it fulfil the function of 
 a teacher, to anything more than a subordinate degree, is 
 to divide, and therefore to weaken, both capacities. 
 
 An illustration, therefore, should be thought out, 
 
24 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA LION. 
 
 designed, and produced, with a definite and single 
 purpose. 
 
 Speaking of the rise and developmenl of newspaper 
 illustration, in a lecture delivered before the Society of 
 Arts, in November, 1893, Mr. Hemy Blackburn quoted 
 from a discussion held at the same place in 1875, when 
 the following conclusion was arrived at: “In the produc- 
 tion of illustrations we have arrived at great proficiency, 
 and from London are issued the best illustrated news- 
 papers in the world. But our artistic skill has led us into 
 temptation, and by degrees engendered a habit of making- 
 pictures when we ought to be recording facts. We have 
 thus, through our cleverness, created a fashion, and a de- 
 mand from the public, for something which is often 
 elaborately untrue. 
 
 “Would it, then, be too much to ask those who cater 
 for (and really create) the public taste, that they should 
 give us one of two things, or rather two things , in our 
 illustrated papers — the real and the ideal. 
 
 “1st. Pictorial records of events in the simplest and 
 truest manner possible. 
 
 “2nd. Pictures of the highest class that can be printed 
 in a newspaper. ’’ 
 
 This, it appears, was said before the mechanical pro- 
 cess block was much used or even known; but what was 
 true in principle in the old wood-engraving days is as 
 true now that we have new and rapid means of reproduc- 
 tion. 
 
 Having, in any given case, decided what is the purpose 
 of the illustration required, it will next be necessary to 
 determine by which of the methods at our disposal the 
 scheme can best be carried out, both as regards the 
 method of producing the original, and the method of re- 
 producing it in print. And this naturally brings us to 
 the subject of our next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 REPRODUCTION BY HA IE- TONE PROCESS. 
 
 ROM the processes with which I propose to engage 
 
 ray reader’s attention, wood and steel engraving', 
 
 and kindred methods, stand apart. 
 
 Were we dependent upon these alone, not one-thousandth 
 part of the illustration matter of to-day could ever have 
 been produced, encumbered as the older methods are 
 with the two things which, in tne production of anything 
 “for the million,” are serious drawbacks, namely, time 
 and expense of production. 
 
 Whilst these older methods undoubtedly possess char- 
 acteristics which will always give them a peculiar value, 
 and secure for them immunity from extermination (and 
 make them, indeed, essential for certain purposes), there 
 was long ago felt a need for a method of rapid reproduc- 
 tion unattended with individual artistic skill on the part 
 of each worker employed, and, above all, free from heavy 
 expense. Such a need has been more than met by what 
 we now know as the mechanical processes. I say more 
 than met, because, gradual improvement in the processes 
 themselves, and an increased knowledge of the particular 
 requirements of these processes on the part of the 
 draughtsmen or artists, has resulted in giving us a pro- 
 cess which is not only rapid and cheap, but which pro- 
 duces prints of high quality and merit. 
 
26 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA DION. 
 
 It will ot course be at once apparent that in order to 
 get our illustration into the printed pages of book or 
 newspaper w T e must first transfer the original to a plate, 
 or block, and then so manipulate the surface that, like a 
 printer’s type, it shall take the printing ink in such man- 
 ner as shall leave an exact imprint upon the paper, or 
 other surface, upon which it is pressed. 
 
 The transfer of the original is accomplished by photog- 
 raphy. The preparation of the surface is effected by a 
 chemical or mechanical process. Correctly defined, these 
 processes are “photo-mechanical, ” and such are generally 
 understood by the literally ambiguous title “process,” 
 which is colloquially applied to all such methods. 
 
 It is not the intention of the present book to give in- 
 structions whereby to work the processes, beyond a gen- 
 eral outline which shall make the illustrator acquainted 
 with the method in which his drawing or photogram is 
 utilised. This knowledge will enable him, to some extent, 
 to adapt himself and his work to its special requirements. 
 
 Photo-mechanical processes are of two kinds: those by 
 which the image is in graved, known as intaglio , and 
 those in which the image is produced in relief , cr relievo. 
 In the first of these the result is more or less similar to 
 an ordinary engraved copper-plate, which, being wiped 
 after inking, retains the ink in the engraved or indented 
 portions, and prints accordingly. The intaglio processes 
 are confined to what is known as Photogravure, or Photo- 
 etching, and modifications thereof. This will not engage 
 our attention, for, beautiful as are its results, it is com- 
 paratively expensive, and lacks that characteristic of speed 
 which has made the relief processes so useful. The en- 
 graved plate must be printed separately ; it cannot be set 
 up with type and printed as letterpress. At the same 
 time, in order to clear my reader’s mind, and my own 
 course, before proceeding further, mention may be made 
 of other separate-printing processes, such as Collotype 1 
 
 1 Our frontispiece, a Collotype by S. B. Bolas and Co., is an excellent ex^ 
 ample of this process. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 27 
 
 (also known under many fancy titles), in which the image 
 is printed on a machine or press from an inked gelatine 
 surface. These can easily be distinguished by the image 
 having a perfectly even appearance as though produced 
 by a water-colour wash, without grain, reticulation, or 
 
 HALF-TONE FROM PHOTOGRAM ; HIGH LIGHTS STRENGTH- 
 ENED WITH CHINESE WHITE. 
 
 lines. Photo-lithography, in which, as the name implies, 
 the picture is transferred oh to stone, from which it is 
 then printed as in ordinary lithography, may also be men- 
 tioned here. 
 
 Another beautiful process of reproduction is the Wood- 
 
23 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 bury-type, named after its inventor, Walter B. Wood- 
 bury, in which a bichromated gelatine film is exposed 
 under a negative, and the soluble portions afterwards re- 
 
 LINE REPRODUCTION FROM PEN AND INK. 
 
 ( Original 14 x n inches.') 
 
 moved by hot water. The resulting gelatine relief, which 
 contains a facsimile picture, is allowed to dry, when it 
 becomes as hard as stone. It is next forced by li3 T draulic 
 pressure into a sheet of polished lead, leaving therein an 
 exact counterpart of its every elevation and depression. 
 The lead plate ( intaglio ) is next placed in a handpress, 
 and flowed with a pool of hot gelatinous colour ; apiece of 
 paper is next placed on top and pressure applied, when all 
 surplus colour oozes from the sides. After a few moments, 
 when the gelatine becomes sufficiently cool, the paper 
 bearing its delicate gelatine print is pulled off and dried. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 29 
 
 Beautiful as many of these are, they can only be applied 
 where the expense attending them and the slower print- 
 ing is not an objection, and where letterpress is not re- 
 quired on the same sheet at the same printing. Printing 
 matter can of course be afterwards introduced, but this 
 must be by a second operation. 
 
 We have now left for consideration the relief processes, 
 in which the design to be printed is produced similar in 
 character and appearance to that of the movable letter- 
 press type used by printers. 
 
 FEEDING THE CHICKENS. 
 
 (Half-tone from photogram. Original 14 x n inches.) 
 
 These processes are roughly divisible into two sections, 
 “tone” and “line,” to understand which I will refer the 
 reader to the accompanying illustrations. 
 
3 o A HANDBOOK OF ILL ULTRA TION. 
 
 In these the image appears to be respectively composed 
 of lines of varying strength and proximity in the one, and 
 of tints ranging from grey to black in the other. If the 
 latter be closely examined, however, or looked at through 
 a magnifying glass, it will be found that what at first 
 appears to be a flat even tint is composed of an infinite 
 number of dots arranged in a reticulated or geometrical 
 pattern. We will now see how this effect is produced, 
 and what are the especial uses of this so-called “tone” or 
 “half-tone” process. 
 
 THE HERON HOUSE. 
 
 Half-tone from fhotogram. ( Original 14 x u inches.) 
 
 Half-Tone Process. 
 
 As has been already said, it is of course necessary to 
 produce from the original a printing surface of such a 
 kind as shall take ink and print an image therefrom. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 3i 
 
 Now it will of course be obvious that with ink and white 
 paper we can onty produce two things — 'black and white 
 — -and that therefore all the intermediate shades must be 
 
 LINE REPRODUCTION FROM PEN AND INK. 
 ( Original 14 x n inches .) 
 
 produced by a greater or less number of black dots. The 
 process under consideration, in common with some 
 others, is based upon the fact that gelatine or albumen 
 sensitised with bichromate of ammonium or potassium, 
 becomes insoluble after being acted upon by light. A 
 solution of bitumen in benzole also forms a light sensitive 
 coating which is frequently used in these processes. If 
 we were to expose such a sensitive film to light under 
 (for example) a photographic negative of a figure taken 
 against a light background and then washed it in a suita- 
 
32 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 ble solvent, those parts which had been protected from 
 light by the opaque portions of the negative, such as the 
 background, the face, hands, and white portions of the 
 dress, would dissolve away, leaving the insoluble or light 
 affected portions standing. 
 
 If we were now to ink these portions, we could print a 
 black image which would represent the general form of 
 the portrait like the old-fashioned silhouettes, or shadow 
 pictures; but the “half-tone” process provides for the 
 breaking up of the solid black image, substituting for it 
 black dots closer and more numerous where the darker 
 greys are, and less so where the shading is lighter. A 
 very considerable variation in apparent tint may thus be 
 effected. 
 
 The actual method is briefly thus: — What is known as 
 a “screen” is first made by taking a photographic nega- 
 tive of a print from a copper-plate, on which has been 
 ruled about 120 fine parallel lines to the inch. This is 
 done with extreme care and exactness, so that the nega- 
 tive gives a clear transparent copy of the ruled lines of 
 microscopic sharpness. In many cases the ruled copy is 
 moved round a quarter of a circle during the exposure, 
 thus resulting in the effect of double ruling, the lines in- 
 tersecting each other at right angles. Or two printings 
 may be made from the copper-plate to produce the same 
 result and the negative then taken. We shall thus have 
 a negative having the appearance of a very fine lattice of 
 transparent glass on an opaque ground. 
 
 With this “screen” placed nearly in contact with an 
 ordinary photographic plate, film to film, we proceed to 
 make a copy negative, in the camera, of the original 
 picture. This, when developed, will give the picture ana 
 an image of the screen, which has been interposed, to- 
 gether on one plate. 
 
 If this is now clear to my readers, they will probably at 
 once see what will result when such a plate is used on a 
 sensitised sheet of zinc or copper, and the soluble parts of 
 the film washed away as before suggested. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 33 
 
 The parts of the film made insoluble from exposure to 
 light will be reticulated all over by minute soluble dots 
 or lines where the image of the screen has interrupted the 
 light, and more so or less in proportion to the lightness 
 or deeper shade of the original, and by this means what 
 would have been unbroken blacks are sprinkled over, so 
 to speak, with tiny white interstices, the ink when ap- 
 plied remaining on the alternating projections of undis- 
 solved film. 
 
 Suppose the film to have been of bitumen and spread 
 upon a sheet of zinc, we should have a reticulated image 
 in insoluble bitumen with interstices of plain zinc. This 
 bitumen forms a protective coating, so that when im- 
 mersed in a weak solution of nitric acid the acid only 
 eats a way into the bare metal. Gradually, and by subse- 
 quent acid baths, the parts covered by the film are left in 
 strong relief, and in a fit condition to print from. The 
 film which has thus resisted the acid is then washed away, 
 leaving the zinc relief. 
 
 To carry out the above process many details, which I 
 have not thought it the office of this book to enter into, 
 will be required. Thus the solvent used for developing, 
 or, in other words, washing away the soluble portions of 
 a bitumen film, is turpentine; but water is used in the 
 case of bichromatised albumen. An acid resisting pre- 
 paration is finally applied to the plain zinc relief, and the 
 whole block re-etched or “re-bitten,” so as to strengthen 
 the image; certain precautions, moreover, are taken to 
 prevent the acid “under etching” the image — and a great 
 deal more which, of course, would have to be clearly de- 
 scribed were it intended to teach the process of block- 
 making. 
 
 In the variety of half-tone blocks, known as Typograv- 
 ure, a different method of breaking up the surface is 
 adopted; no intervening screen is used, but the surface 
 of the metal has imparted to it a preliminary roughness 
 or grain, and the image is printed and etched on this 
 rough surface. These blocks, when carefully printed 
 
34 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 from, yield exceedingly nice results, the grain having 
 something of an “aquatint” character, which appears to 
 
 be more discriminating than that 
 derived through the use of the 
 ruled screen. The softness of out- 
 line and freedom from anything 
 like a mechanical texture is well 
 seen in blocks made by this 
 method. The remarkable differ- 
 ence obtained from the same 
 block by different printers will 
 at once suggest that a very great 
 deal depends upon the printing 
 quite irrespective of the quality of 
 the block itself. Man}^ letterpress 
 printers make a specialty of block-printing, the chief art 
 being in the “making-ready” and “underlaying, ” by 
 which terms is understood the careful adjusting of the 
 block, so that its surface be at exactly the proper eleva- 
 tion to secure the proper 
 amount of pressure, 
 neither more nor less, 
 when on the printing 
 machine. Some further 
 remarks on this subject 
 will be found in Chap- 
 ter X. 
 
 I trust, h owever, 
 enough has been said to 
 give a general idea to the 
 uninitiated of how we 
 arrive at the dotted ink 
 print, which we recognise 
 as a reproduction from 
 a photogram, or wash- 
 drawdng, or indeed an) T - 
 thing which is similarly 
 made up of flat tints. 
 
 UNTOUCHED HALF-TONE FROM 
 PHOTOGRAM. 
 
 ( Original 4x3. 
 
A HANDBOOK Oh JLLUS1 RA'J ION. 
 
 35 
 
 It will, of course, 
 have been understood 
 that the ruled ‘ ‘ screen, ’ ’ 
 which is interposed be- 
 tween the picture to be 
 copied and the plate on 
 which it is copied, will 
 appear over the whole 
 of the copy negative, 
 whether the image ex- 
 tend so far or not, so that, 
 in the reproduction, 
 even what should be 
 blank whites will be cov- 
 ered with the fine black 
 dots or grain, though 
 more widely separated 
 by 'little white spaces. 
 
 If the accompanying 
 
 r v 
 
 I : N A 
 
 HALF-TONE FROM PHOTOGRAM — THE 
 BLOCK ENGRAVED ON BY HAND. 
 {Original 4 x 3.) 
 
 reproductions be examined, this 
 will be found to be the 
 
 ON SLAPTON LEY, SOUTPI DEVON. 
 Photogram touched up by hand — blqck untouched. 
 ( Original 4x3.) 
 
 Nature, have often been pointed 
 
 case. 
 
 To any one who has 
 given pictorial matters 
 much thought, the dis- 
 advantage of this will 
 be at once apparent. 
 
 In black-and-white 
 pictures, white is the 
 highest expression of 
 light, and yet how far 
 the whitest paper is 
 from sunlight, and how 
 much shorter the whole 
 gamut of tones, from 
 blackest ink to whitest 
 paper, is when com- 
 pared with the scale of 
 out and are now general- 
 
36 
 
 A HANDBOOK OB' ILL USTRA I ION. 
 
 ly understood. But our half-tone process makes the range 
 of tones still shorter by curtailing it at the top of the 
 scale and cutting off the white: the pervading “tint,” 
 or “grain,” reducing white to a light grey, and not even 
 the deepest blacks and intermediate tones are nicely ren- 
 dered except by very careful printing. The printing of 
 half-tone process blocks has received great attention 
 amongst better-class printers of late, with the result that 
 marked improvement has taken place, and it is clearly 
 seen that be a half-tone block ever so well made it is only 
 admirable when special ink and special paper (notabty a 
 fine clay surface paper) are used, and more than ordinary 
 knowledge and care expended in the machining. 
 
 While the ideal process block is one in which, when the 
 process is completed, the block is ready for the press (and 
 many process houses pride themselves upon turning out 
 “untouched” blocks), yet there are few houses who do 
 not employ some hands who are constantly working with 
 engraver’s tools to “improve” the blocks after the last 
 etching is done. 
 
 Much brilliancy of contrast and effect may be accom- 
 plished if the engraver cut away the grain altogether on 
 that part of the surface of the block where it should print 
 white; but this must necessarily be done by men of in- 
 stinctive taste and good judgment, for immediately hand 
 carving be admitted the essential character of an automatic 
 facsimile process is lost. The illustrator or artist will, 
 therefore, unless he give careful and precise instruction 
 as to what parts are to be cut away, or can superintend 
 the work himself, feel considerable hesitation in entrust- 
 ing such a delicate task to a stranger. One little touch in 
 the wrong place, one bit of plain white too many, and the 
 harmony of the whole illus-tration will be upset; so that 
 many will reasonably prefer a weak flat print to the un- 
 certainty which must attend the leaving of a block to a 
 mechanic’s mercies. 
 
 In the accompanying three illustrations we have, first, 
 an untouched “half-tone” block from an ordinary photo- 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA LION. 
 
 37 
 
 grain ; secondly, a block from the same original, “tine 
 etched” or with the etching controlled so as to brighten 
 the effect; and thirdly, a block made from the same photo- 
 gram which, in order to compensate for any failings of 
 the process, has been worked on by the artist , strengthen- 
 ing the shadows and brightening the lights. 
 
 This brings us to consider the subject of working on 
 photograms by hand, and the preparation of illustrations 
 generally, which is dealt with in a separate chapter. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PREPARATION OE ORIGINALS FOR REPRO- 
 DUCTION BY HALF-TONE PROCESS. 
 
 I. Photograms. 
 
 I T will be understood from the foregoing- chapter that in 
 every case where the original to be reproduced is of 
 such a nature that before a print in ink can be made the 
 image must be broken up, the reproduction will have to 
 be effected by means of the half-tone process. 
 
 Of the various kinds of originals thus utilised, probably 
 the two most common are photograms and wash-drawings. 
 
 The rapidity, comparative ease, and absence of the 
 draughtsman’s skill, with which photograms can now be 
 made, has placed a wonderful power in the hands of 
 author or illustrator. But a short series of photograms 
 of some subject of interest with a very little descriptive 
 letterpress will often form an acceptable contribution to 
 magazine or newspaper, and yet a thoughtful considera- 
 tion of such illustrations can hardly fail to impress any 
 one with the drawbacks and defects of the method. 
 
 Such illustrations too often strike us as dull, misty, 
 grey, and lacking brilliancy, when compared with black 
 and white reproductions of another kind. 
 
 This dulness is attributable to a great extent to the 
 gauze-like screen through which the copy is made, as de- 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 39 
 
 scribed in our last chapter. The bright lights are grained 
 over with fine dots reducing -white to grey, and the soft 
 finely gradiiated half-tones are often lost altogether. 
 
 In order to counteract these defects, the process worker 
 will often take upon himself to “doctor” the negative 
 made from the original before proceeding to make the 
 block, a practice to be condemned because such an opera- 
 tor is rarely possessed of artistic judgment, and his 
 “touching up” may often produce a result unexpected 
 and unacceptable to the artist. 
 
 A similar “touching up” may also be effected on the 
 block itself, as previously suggested, which is only pre- 
 ferable because the artist may more directly control the 
 engraver’s tool by giving definite instructions. 
 
 As far as possible, however, the block should not be 
 meddled with by any one, if the originals have been pro- 
 duced in such a manner as to ensure the best possible 
 effect by the mere mechanical process. 
 
 In making photograms especially for reproduction a 
 clear, bright negative, with good strong contrasts, should 
 be aimed at. Probably the kind of negatives which it 
 was customary to strive after in the older days of wet- 
 plate photography would be the best; but, as wet-plate 
 photography is hardly practicable for the illustrator of to- 
 day, similar results with dry-plates should be sought. 
 
 Unhappily, the extreme softness and exquisite grada- 
 tions of some of the most modern and artistic work of 
 photographers is thrown away in the process of reproduc- 
 tion, and little more than a flat, meaningless smudge is the 
 best the process block can make of it. For this reason our 
 photograms for illustration should somewhat exaggerate 
 the effect we wish to reproduce: a matter which has led 
 to the working on photograms with the brush to heighten 
 the effect, of which I shall have more to say anon. 
 
 Given the proper kind of negative the next care will be 
 to make such a photographic print as shall not detract from 
 the qualities secured in the negative, and shall in every 
 possible way assist the “process.” 
 
40 
 
 A HA AW BOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Many of the best and most pleasing photograms of our 
 day are printed upon coarse-grained, rough-surfaced paper, 
 presenting - a difficulty to the reproductive process almost 
 certain to prove disastrous to the result ; for if, whilst being 
 copied, the original is not very skilfully lighted, the inequal- 
 ities of the surface reproduce as little lights and shadows in 
 a very unpleasing manner, and the texture of even a com- 
 paratively smooth paper seems remarkably exaggerated. 
 
 Almost as undesirable will be the very highly enamelled 
 surfaces of some photographic papers, the surface gloss 
 producing reflections which interfere with the copying. 
 The best for general use will be the smoothest platinotype 
 paper, or a not too highly-glazed white albumenised paper, 
 cither of which are obtainable at most chemists and all 
 photographic dealers. The print should be of a medium 
 depth, not so dark as to give heavy solid shadows, nor so 
 light as to omit all detail from the lightest portions. The 
 various manipulations necessary for “toning” and “fix- 
 ing” the print should be carried out carefully, especially 
 avoiding staining or discoloration of the white paper. 
 The print thus made, when mounted on card, is as far as 
 an ordinary photogram can go for this purpose. 
 
 It now remains to be seen, bearing in mind what we 
 know of the method by which it is to be reproduced, what 
 may be done to improve it, never forgetting, however, 
 that the chief value of a photogram for illustrative pur- 
 poses is its unimpeachable fidelity to truth. Additional 
 hand-work should not violate this truthfulness by the intro- 
 duction of any fresh matter, or the painting out of any char- 
 acteristic detail, unless, of course, the illustration is mere- 
 ly for pictorial or decorative purposes. The inscription 
 “From a photogram” usually possesses a charm over the 
 popular mind, inspiring confidence and carrying con vic- 
 tion, and if the hand-work be discreetly introduced, only 
 to improve the effect and counteract the inherent defects 
 of the final process, the legend may be honestly used. 
 
 In the first place, a photogram in which there are some 
 large very dark objects, which by reason of their dark 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 4i 
 
 colour are disagreeably heavy, or obtrusive masses of deep 
 shadow, may be made to reproduce better if a thin trans- 
 parent wash of blue be applied to such portions. The 
 great photogenic power of blue is, of course, the reason 
 of this, but until some experience be gained as to the 
 proper amount of blue required, I should recommend 
 that a duplicate untouched photogram be sent in as well, 
 with a few umrds of explanation and instruction to the 
 process man. If the photogram be upon a glossy surface 
 paper, a few drops of ox gall, procurable in bottles from 
 the artists’ colourman, will make the water-colour wash 
 flow readily over the slimy surface. 
 
 For working with a brush upon the photogram, the 
 materials are simple and few. Our purpose is to 
 strengthen the lights and deepen the darks, for which 
 purpose Chinese white and two or three water-colours re- 
 spectively will be used. 
 
 The surface and general character of a platinotype or 
 matt paper print will be pleasantest to work on; with an 
 ■albumenised paper, ox gall will again be essential. 
 
 If a liberal amount of hand-work is intended, the print 
 had better be a light one, and it can then be built up to 
 any degree. 
 
 Chinese white, when applied thinly, has a bluish hue, 
 and will consequently reproduce somewhat lighter than it 
 appears. Therefore to produce a grey, it will sometimes 
 be better, instead of using thin Chinese w'hite, to make 
 an admixture of Chinese white and Indian ink, or some 
 suitable pigment, and apply it as a grey where grey is 
 wanted. Such portions of the Chinese white which, when 
 dry, appear harsh, may be softened wdth a clean almost 
 dry sable brush; or the soft part of the finger, with little 
 more than its natural moisture, carefully rubbed over the 
 harsh parts may have the desired effect. By such and 
 any tricks which may suggest themselves it is advisable to 
 blend the hand-work wdth the actual photographic image. 
 
 In applying pigment to the dark parts, to make them 
 darker or sharper, it will be desirable to match the colour 
 
42 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 of the photographic print as nearly as possible. With 
 platinotypes this may easily be done with Indian ink, 
 with a little blue added according to whether the print is 
 a warm or cold black. The precise colour of a silver 
 print, whether on matt or albumenised paper, is not so 
 
 “STOPPED OUT” PHOTOGRAM. 
 
 {Original 6x4.) 
 
 easy to match, but may be best accomplished with sepia 
 and cobalt, with a trace of crimson lake; one or two 
 other colours, such as burnt umber, vandyke brown, 
 sienna, &c., being kept in reserve for emergencies. Fine- 
 pointed small sable-hair brushes will be found the best 
 for all purposes. 
 
 In the process of reproduction the original may be en- 
 larged upon or reduced. The former is not often attended 
 with happy results, especially if there is much hand-work, 
 but reduction may to some extent be relied on to clear 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 43 
 
 away any trifling blemishes, should such exist. I should, 
 however, lay emphasis upon making the original as per- 
 fect as possible; the “improving” effect of the process is an 
 altogether too uncertain and unknown factor to be trusted. 
 
 Having thus given particulars as to the preparation of 
 photograms for reproduction, we may now suggest some 
 various applications thereof. 
 
 There is a great charm about illustrations which possess 
 a spontaneous and a suggestive character, and in this direc- 
 tion photograms are too often painfully deficient. On rare 
 occasions only, and in the hands of a few artistic workers 
 alone, does photography rise above a certain mechanical 
 and laboured impression, and the rare exceptions are of a 
 character ill-suited for “half-tone” reproduction. 
 
 For complete whole-page illustrations a photogram has 
 few drawbacks; but when inserted with letterpress, and 
 required for chapter headings and odd corners, the fact 
 that the picture occupies the whole space enclosed with- 
 in the boundary lines, and includes a great deal of detail 
 which is not required, makes them less attractive. Their 
 form and style is dull and monotonous. 
 
 The accompanying illustration will suggest the manner 
 in which I would recommend photograms to be sometimes 
 employed— especially when the illustrator does not possess 
 the requisite skill to produce the same thing with his brush. 
 
 The “Little Gate-keepers” may be taken as an example 
 of what I will call a “stopped-out” photogram; practically 
 no hand-work has been employed upon it beyond the 
 “stopping out” of the original negative. The figures of 
 the children holding open the gate appear in the fore- 
 ground of a large negative, a landscape near Dunster 
 Castle; the background is composed of trees of an unpleas- 
 ing form, and, beyond the topographical interest, the 
 bulk of the subject has little to recommend it. 
 
 The method of stopping-out is as follows The nega- 
 tive should be placed in such a position as to secure a 
 strong transmitted light; it may be fastened to the 
 window, so as to be able to look through it towards the 
 
44 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 sky, or may be placed in a retouching desk, as used by 
 photographers, if very large plates. In my own practice 
 I use an ordinary easel, sitting to it with my face to the 
 window. On the fdm side of the negative carefully draw 
 round the more critical outlines, such as figures, faces, 
 trees, &c., with a very fine-pointed brush, or a pen, 
 dipped in opaque black varnish, gradually broadening the 
 line to about a quarter of an inch. Now on the reverse, 
 or glass side of the negative, paint out with black varnish 
 all the rest as required; the effect of painting-out on the 
 reverse side being to give a slightly softer or vignetted 
 effect as is seen in the ground and gate-posts of the ac- 
 companying illustration. 
 
 Where it is desired to carry the vignetted effect to a 
 greater length, some oil colour, red by preference (which 
 may be thinned with copal varnish), may be used, and when 
 partially dry the finger may be used as a dabber to remove 
 just sufficient to admit of the plate printing very faintly. 
 
 In such a practice as this a little resourcefulness and 
 ingenuity will stand the operator in good stead, and many 
 modifications and “dodges” will occur as the work pro- 
 ceeds. Thus, for instance, if the whole of the painting 
 out be done on the film side, the bare outline of the back- 
 ground and surroundings may be scratched in with a 
 needle so as to give a sketchy appearance in the print; 
 such sketched outline may adhere to the original form or 
 may be entirely invented. Some taste must be exercised 
 to prevent the elaborate photographic image from appear- 
 ing incongruous with the sketched outline. 
 
 In the accompanying “Boy gathering Wortleberries, ” 
 two children have been taken out of an unfortunate^ 
 grouped trio, a badly developed transparent sky has been 
 converted into a hill in the background, and some little 
 details of landscape have been painted on to the print. 
 
 A good deal has been said of the modern illustrator 
 shirking or ignoring backgrounds in his illustrations, yet 
 I am inclined to think that in such cases as these, and 
 very many others, the background is best only suggested 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 45 
 
 or omitted altogether. In an illustration which purposes 
 to tell us some little fact, or is designed to beautify and 
 enliven a page, we do not want a wnole chaptei from 
 nature's book, but just such selected passages which the 
 judgment of the artist illustrator shall select. 
 
 In utilising photograms in this or any similar manner, 
 it is difficult to place such methods in the hands of those 
 unlearned in art matters without a word of caution and 
 advice on the subject of composition and arrangement; 
 but as it is not within the province of the present work to 
 instruct my readers in art principles, such remarks must 
 be of the briefest. 
 
 It will be at once seen that whatever be the arrange- 
 ment or “composition” of nature (as photographed), as 
 soon as the illustrator commences stopping-out certain 
 portions, the form or composition is at once entirely under 
 his control, and the pleasing effect of the finished result 
 will verv greatly depend upon a nice arrangement of lines. 
 Thus in my “Little Gate-keepers” the upper outline of 
 the gate forms a striking line running obliquely upward 
 from left to right, and so, to counteract this, I have let 
 the ground take an oblique form in an opposite direction. 
 To have done otherwise and repeated the first-named line 
 would have given the whole thing a one-sided, running- 
 upwards, effect. As a general rule (subject, as all such 
 rules must be, to numerous exceptions), strong oblique 
 lines should converge towards an imaginary centre some 
 distance outside the picture, with some lesser opposing 
 lines to form contrast and promote a balance. Neither 
 should the sketched-in or created background repeat the 
 form of the chief object. Thus in the “Boy gathering 
 Wortleberries” the figure forms a vertical line; there 
 are no strong oblique lines, and therefore the middle dis- 
 tance takes the form of a horizontal line. The summit of 
 the hill, had it come directly over the boy’s head, would 
 have too evidently repeated his outline, and is therefore 
 placed a little to the right. These are matters of taste, 
 rather than the obedience to prescribed rules, but the 
 
46 A HA NDBOOK OF ILL USTRA TIO N. 
 
 reader who desires guidance can hardly do better than 
 read Burnett's “Essays on Art.’’ There are several 
 handbooks to artistic photography which treat of this 
 subject, such as “Pictorial Effect in Photography’’ and 
 “Picture-making by Photography,” both by H. P. Robin- 
 
 l&y ^aCii^WoYtUbtrriss ExraooY _ ' 
 
 WORKED-UP PHOTOGRAM. 
 
 ( Original 6x4.) 
 
 son, also Studies in Photography,” by J. Andrews; and 
 many books for the art student. 
 
 But, as already said, these are matters of individual 
 taste and ai tistic instinct, and although I hope by this 
 little book to make the path easy for those who have no 
 especial artistic aptitude, yet, in such things as this, the 
 possessor of such instinctive sense of form is at an ad- 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA LION. 
 
 47 
 
 vantage, lacking which the attentive study of other 
 people’s work and some amount of imitation seems to be 
 the only possible substitute. Much knowledge may be 
 gained from analysing, to this end, illustrations which 
 greet the eye on nearly every page of current literature. 
 While many methods of illustration may be learned and 
 practised in a mechanical manner, the course is beset 
 with difficulties and pitfalls, and, to the artistically un- 
 learned, the alternative dangers of gross error and sheer 
 imitation are ever present. Mr. Henry Blackburn has 
 justly said, “The illustrator’s best protection against this 
 tendency, his whole armour and coat of mail, is to be an 
 artist first and an illustrator afterwards. ” Yet men have 
 won battles without armour, and when the stripling slew 
 the giant it was the latter who wore the coat of mail. 
 Zeal and patient application will do much. 
 
 In speaking of the application of the photogram to 
 illustrative and decorative purposes, we can hardly 
 leave the subject without making reference to the use 
 to which they may be put for decorative initials, 
 chapter headings, and the like. Some very excellent 
 examples of initials were given in Mr. Gleeson 
 White’s articles on “ Photographing the Nude,” pub- 
 lished in The Photogram , one of which we reproduce 
 (see p. 48). The subject must be selected so as to har- 
 monise in character and form with the letter required, 
 and such letter may then be pasted, or painted, on the 
 original negative, in which case it will print white; or it 
 may be worked on -the photogram with brush and pig- 
 ment. In only a few cases would the initial, if repre- 
 sented in deep black, have any other than an overpowering 
 and heavy effect. The “tail-piece” on page 56 is a further 
 example which needs little explanation. Photograms cut 
 to certain form, and arranged suitably, may make a great 
 variety of chapter headings or tail-pieces. 
 
 In the example here given, the background or distance 
 was painted out on the negative, and ink lines were drawn 
 around the print before reproduction. 
 
THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA; 42ND HIGHLANDERS GUARDING 
 FRENCH PRISONERS. 
 
 Bv permission of the proprietors of “The Illustrated London News." Engraved: 
 front a wash drawing m black and white by The Meisenbach Co Ltd., 
 
 I Vest Norwood. 
 
 43 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 In order to ensure a symmetrical and sharp outline, a 
 paper mask may be attached to the negative, and a scroll 
 design painted on the negative, details being drawn in 
 ink on the resulting print. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PREPARATION OF ORIGINALS FOR HALT-TONE 
 REP ROD UCTION. 
 
 II. Wash Drawings, Oil Paintings, Pencil and Other 
 Drawings. 
 
 F the remaining methods, whereby originals for re- 
 
 production by half-tone process may be made, 
 
 much less need be said. The same principles of avoiding 
 too fine and delicate gradations of tone apply as when 
 making a simple photogram, and the methods of brush and 
 pencil appeal almost exclusively to the naturally artistic. 
 
 The wash drawing, which is practically water-colour 
 painting in monochrome, is the most popular, and, in the 
 hands of those artists who have applied themselves to 
 illustration for photo-reproduction, some very wonderful 
 achievements are possible. Avoiding blue, green, red, 
 orange, or colours approaching thereto, it matters little 
 what colour is used, but probably black, such as Indian 
 ink, or a good neutral grey or sepia, is the best to use. 
 In any case, body colour reproduces better than transpar- 
 ent washes, the delicacy of which are wasted. Hence a 
 liberal use of Chinese white to lighten the tints is pre- 
 ferable to making the colour thinner with water. Lamp 
 black and Chinese white work well together and reproduce 
 excellently. In using Indian ink, or indeed any colour, 
 
 49 
 
50 
 
 A HANDBOOK 01 ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 successive washes should not be made until each preced- 
 ing one is dry, thereby escaping a “messy” effect and 
 securing greater vigour. 
 
 The brush-work must be bold and strong, and, as was 
 said with regard to photograms, include as little of the soft- 
 er half-tones as possible, the contrasts of light and shade 
 must be accentuated and effect exaggerated to compensate 
 for the degradation of contrast brought about by the pro- 
 cess. Unless this be remembered, the result can hardly 
 fail to give anything but a very flat poor copy of the 
 original. The artist should hold himself under restraint, 
 and instead of blending one tone with another keep them 
 nicely distinct, limiting himself to some half-dozen differ- 
 ent shades or tones between the extremes of white and 
 black, and even then some portions of the white may re- 
 quire to be cut away on the block. 
 
 Many illustrations from wash drawings of to-day are of 
 a daring, spirited style in which figures are drawn with 
 or without backgrounds, and when well done they are un- 
 deniably attractive, and may be abundant^ met with in 
 such publications as The Graphic , Illustrated London 
 News , Sketch , In Town , St. Paul' s, and many others. 
 Were we considering the subject of art in illustrations, 
 comment on this sort of work not wholly in approbation 
 might be made, but that it is thoroughly up to date, 
 effective, and in ready demand cannot be denied, and it 
 should be carefully studied by the student, who will no 
 doubt profit by the suggestions of technique without nec- 
 essarily copying or being unduly influenced by the style. 
 
 Some capital effects may be obtained by making a wash 
 drawing on grey-tinted paper and putting in the lights 
 with white, an example of which is here given. Decora- 
 tive designs done in Chinese white on dark-brown paper 
 may be successfully produced, but should be made several 
 times larger than required ; the reduction in size usually 
 improving the effect. 
 
 Painting in oil in monochrome will offer a welcome 
 field for illustration work to those who are more accus- 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 51 
 
 tomed to use this medium. A smooth surface canvas or 
 board should be chosen, however, and the painting should 
 be smooth, all strong brush marks, especially in the 
 whites, being omitted or softened out with a badger. In 
 thus softening, however, care should be exercised not to 
 graduate one tone into another, but leave everything firm 
 and distinct, the same restriction of tones being observed 
 as in the other methods referred to previously. In using 
 
 ON THE RIVER ROTIIF.K. 
 
 Half-tone from Indian-ink wash drawing on grey paper. (Original f/% x 3%.) 
 
 oil colours, turpentine must be liberally used, or benzine, 
 as this will destroy the excessive gloss on the surface, a 
 feature not liked by the process worker. 
 
 Either water colour or oil may be worked upon a 
 photographic basis in order to save labour or difficulties 
 in drawing. In such cases the photographic print should 
 be as faint as possible; any photographic paper may be 
 used for water colour, but smooth platinotype will prob- 
 ably be the most pleasant. The surfaces to which oil 
 
52 
 
 A HANDBOOK Ob ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 colour may be applied will be naturally more limited, 
 but ready-sized canvas for printing in bromide by artifi- 
 cial light is made, and is largely used for oil painting for 
 the commoner kind of portraits. 
 
 DESIGN — CHINESE WHITE ON ORDINARY BROWN PAPER — HAI.F-TONE. 
 
 ( Original 7I4 x 4^.) 
 
 It will, however, sometimes be found desirable to econ- 
 omise labour by using a photogram to paint on, thus sav- 
 ing time in re-drawing and ensuring accuracy of elaborate 
 details. Moreover, paint may be put upon a photogram, 
 and much matter that is not required, or which may be 
 judged as injurious to the pictorial effect, can be omitted. 
 After the painting is finished, the photographic basis or 
 original will then require to be removed. 
 
 Almost any photographic print may be prepared to re- 
 ceive oil paint by giving it a coating of common “size,” 
 and drying it slowly by a fire or otherwise. The painting- 
 on being then proceeded with, and the paint dry, the back 
 of the print is to be sponged or brushed with the iodine 
 solution mentioned on page 114. Platinotype paper being 
 already sized reqiiires no further sizing, and by making a 
 weak under-exposed print the subsequent reduction or 
 bleaching of the image can be rendered unnecessary. 
 

 By permission of the proprietors of “ The English Illustrated Magazine 
 Engraved prom pencil sketch by The Meisenbach Co., Ltd., 
 
 West Norwood. 
 
54 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Many illustrators are fond of making wash drawings 
 and then strengthening them with pen or pencil. The 
 advantage is not easy to see, a mixed and indifferent 
 character being usually felt. 
 
 Pencil drawing with a reinforcement of a few ink lines, 
 
 EVENING AT WEST MF.RSEA.' 
 
 Half-tone *rom pencil drawing. {Original 4O x 3 f;.) 
 
 or pencil by itself, is a method which appears to me to be 
 deserving of much more attention and cultivation than it 
 has usually received. 
 
 Average pencil drawing is inclined to be too weak, and 
 wanting in those characteristics which have been already 
 pointed out as essential in wash drawings, but if the 
 drawing be "vigorous, and the pencil strokes clean and 
 distinct, some capital results may be obtained. In order 
 to procure the grey of pencil work a very fine screen is used, 
 and the printing carefully attended to, so that pencil 
 sketches are hardl} r suitable for the cheaper and more rapid 
 class of printing. The lights should be cut away on the 
 block. 
 
 The accompanying sketch of a cottage is simply torn 
 from the leaf of a sketch-book in which it was made with- 
 out any regard for the requirements of the process; the 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA TION. 
 
 55 
 
 strong shadows were slightly reinforced with pen^ and 
 ink, and the whole carefully reproduced. 
 
 It seems scarcely necessary to refer to the use of water 
 colour and oil paintings in colour as illustrations, inas- 
 
 COTTAGE AT HERONGATE. 
 
 Half-tone from pencil sketch slightly strengthened with pen and ink. 
 ( Original 4 K x 3^.) 
 
 much as if produced for purposes of reproduction, colour 
 would hardly be employed. Occasionally, however, one 
 may require to make a photogram of a painting for seme 
 such purpose, in doing which it will be best to employ a 
 professed photographer who is accustomed to copying, 
 and this because the photographing of coloured objects 
 possesses peculiar difficulties. 
 
 Plates known as “Isochromatic” are used, these having 
 certain dyes mixed with the sensitive film which makes 
 them more sensitive to the least active colours, such as 
 reds and yellows, and in addition a stained film of gela- 
 tine or glass is introduced into the lens to further correct 
 the action of the colours. Special care, too, in lighting 
 the picture to be copied is requisite, some experts recom- 
 mending the use of coloured reflectors. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 5fc 
 
 If the greens, reds, and yellows are not very pro- 
 nounced, or the effect is not greatly dependent upon blue 
 and such hues which by reason of their great light activity 
 photograph as white, a fair copy photogram may be pro- 
 duced under ordinary circumstances; but where any 
 doubt exists, I should recommend that the work be done 
 by an experienced operator. 
 
 • Throughout the foregoing remarks on the half-tone 
 process, it will have been gathered that its inherent de- 
 fects constantly stand in the way of our giving it unqual- 
 ified approval. A recent writer on the subject, Mr. C. G. 
 Harper, says of half-tone process that it is “inconstant 
 and for ever incapable of rendering wash drawings as 
 well as the wood-engraver.’’ 
 
 Be this as it may— and it may not be possible to gain- 
 say it — each day sees such improvements made in the 
 processes, that even before these sheets are in my reader’s 
 hands circumstances may require a change of opinion, 
 and prejudices may have given way under the convinc- 
 ing influences of modern improvements. 
 
 We may now turn our attention to the more direct pro- 
 cesses of reproducing in line , in which, more than in any 
 other direction, the revolution which photography has 
 brought about in the art of illustration is evident. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LINE PROCESS. 
 
 HE methods of drawing for reproduction by, and in 
 
 compliance with the requirements of, a line process, 
 
 are numerous and varied. They include pen, pencil, and 
 crayon, and modifications and combinations of all three. 
 
 The information which I shall give is intended chiefly 
 for such as know little or nothing of the manner in which 
 such illustrations should be produced. Having already 
 mastered the primary methods, the more practised 
 draughtsman, knowing what, any special reproduction 
 process requires, will, to some extent, invent his own 
 methods and often resort to some “dodge” which may 
 occur to him, thereby producing some delightful and 
 original result. 
 
 ■ In describing the half-tone process we found the neces- 
 sity of having an image in relief of such a character that 
 we could print from it in ink, hence the intervention of a 
 ruled screen, which broke up the flat even tints of the 
 original picture into minute dots. Line processes, as 
 the term implies, are used to reproduce an illustration 
 which, as in a pen and ink sketch, possesses no flat tints, 
 and requires no screen, the actual lines being reproduced 
 in relief and printed in facsimile. 
 
 It will, of course, be remembered that a mechanical 
 
 57 
 
58 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA LION. 
 
 process block can only produce in simple black and 
 white: that is, it either reproduces a line, to print black, 
 or omits it altogether; so that a line drawn in grey ink, 
 and another in black, would each reproduce exactly the 
 same, namely black. Whereas in wash drawing we were 
 limited to a few varying tones, we are now restricted to 
 two — white and black — and, as may be seen by looking at 
 any good line drawing, various degrees of shade are pro- 
 duced by a multiplicity of lines in greater or less proxim- 
 ity and of varying thickness. 
 
 Before proceeding further, I will give an outline of the 
 three principal processes used for producing drawing in 
 line. These are the swelled gelatine, the albumen, and 
 the bitumen processes; — other processes exist but are 
 little practised, and offer no advantages over the above. 
 The albumen and bitumen methods are processes of etch- 
 ing on zinc and familiarly known as “zinco” line process; 
 not so the swelled gelatine, as will be seen from the fol- 
 lowing description of it. Gelatine of a hard variety is 
 melted in water with the addition of a small quantity of 
 sugar and chrome-alum, and is then spread evenly upon 
 a perfectly clean glass plate. This gelatine film is, when 
 required for use, sensitised by immersion in a solution of 
 bichromate of potassium, methylated spirits, and water. 
 The effect of this is to render the film, to some extent, 
 insoluble where acted upon by light; or, more correctly 
 speaking, non-absorbent when affected by light. A nega- 
 tive, made from the original to be reproduced, is placed 
 in contact with the sensitised film and exposed to light. 
 The film, which it will be remembered is resting upon a 
 glass plate, is then placed in cold water, with the result 
 that those parts which have been protected from light 
 absorb water and swell up, leaving the non-absorbent 
 parts, which represent the image, sunk in. When this 
 operation has been carried far enough, a plaster of Paris 
 cast is taken, and from this a wax mould is made, which 
 is practically a duplicate of the gelatine mould from 
 which the plaster cast was made. Into the wax mould 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL US TR A TION. 
 
 59 
 
 copper is deposited, precisely as in ordinary electrotyping, 
 thus giving us a copper relief from a gelatine or wax 
 mould made direct from the original. 1 This process, 
 while a favourite with the artist, is not so readily used by 
 the process worker because it is somewhat expensive, the 
 average cost of a block being from gd. to is. 6d. per inch. 
 But the results are very fine, especially when a drawing 
 has been made in ignorance or regardless of the require- 
 ments of process reproduction. 
 
 The zinc etching processes, by which .the great mass of 
 newspaper blocks are made, are less regardful of delica- 
 cies of execution which the swelled gelatine often repro- 
 duces with astonishing fidelity. 2 
 
 In the albumen process the sensitive film is composed 
 of egg albumen, bichromate of ammonium or potassium, 
 and water, which is spread upon a zinc plate. After ex- 
 posure to light under the negative, the whole surface is 
 inked over with transfer ink, and then immersed in cold 
 water and gently rubbed. The ink will wash away from 
 those portions which have been protected from light by 
 the opaque portions of the negative, and will adhere to 
 those affected by light. Thus on a bed of zinc we have 
 an ink image on a substratum of albumen, the exact copy 
 of the original. The zinc has now to be etched with acid. 
 
 With bitumen the procedure is somewhat similar. The 
 bitumen is first treated with ether, which will dissolve out 
 only those constituents which, not being sensitive to light, 
 are not required. The residue is dissolved in benzole 
 and spread upon a zinc plate, as with the albumen pro- 
 cess. After exposure to light under the negative, the 
 bitumen film is washed with turpentine, which takes 
 away all except those portions acted upon by light. The 
 film is next washed in water and placed in a very weak 
 solution of nitric acid, which at once attacks those por- 
 
 1 The copper deposited by electro-deposition is little more than a thin skin 
 of metal, which is then backed by a block of type-metal of the same thickness 
 as the usual letterpress type. 
 
 2 See remarks on printing in Chap. X. 
 
6o 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 tions of the zinc unprotected by bitumen. If what now 
 remains of the film be inked over we shall have, as in the 
 last process, an ink image of the drawing on a zinc base, 
 and the plate is now ready for etching. 
 
 The etching is performed by successive baths of diluted 
 nitric acid, gum and powdered resin being applied to the 
 plate after each etching, and heated so as to run down the 
 sides of the ridges of metal (which at each successive etch- 
 ing bath are gradually growing deeper) until the “biting” 
 or etching be considered deep enough. The ink and sub- 
 stratum of albumen or bitumen are then cleaned off with 
 American potash, and the plate is finally washed. Re- 
 biting, or still further etching, ma) r be required before 
 the zinc relief is ready to be mounted on a wood block 
 “type high” for printing purposes. 
 
 As in the half-tone process, I do not pretend to have 
 given working instructions, but only such general partic- 
 ulars as may interest the artist or draughtsman whose 
 work is to be reproduced. For either of these processes 
 the average cost is 4d. to 6d. per square inch, with a 
 minimum charge of 5s. for a single block. Each process 
 has its special uses and applications; the process crafts- 
 man (whom nothing delights so much as a sharp, brilliant 
 line) will usually recommend the bitumen, but the al- 
 bumen method will often give a more pleasing result. 
 As a general rule, if your work is placed in good hands, 
 the particular process to be used is best left to them to 
 decide, and if a proof be submitted some little alterations 
 may be suggested which can be carried out by an engraver. 
 
 In the subsequent pages of this book I shall make little 
 reference to these processes; enough has been said, and 
 they are no part of the draughtsman’s business, only it 
 will be well to keep in mind throughout such general par- 
 ticulars as have just been given. 
 
 Little has been said with reference to the negatives 
 used in reproduction; but as the draughtsman who also 
 possesses some knowledge of photography may be tempted 
 to copy his work himself, it may be well to point out that 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA T10N. 
 
 61 
 
 the negative image must be as sharp as it is possible to 
 get it. The most trifling deviation in focussing, un- 
 noticeable in ordinary photography, will tell seriously in 
 making a reproduction; moreover the kind of negative 
 one may have learned to make for ordinary photographic 
 purposes will not do here. The function of the negative 
 is, it will be remembered, to protect certain portions of 
 the Aim from light, and to freely admit light where the 
 image is, hence the denser portions of the negative must 
 be very nearly, if not absolutely, opaque, and the image 
 as nearly transparent as possible; thus giving what 
 photography proper has taught us to abhor — a black and 
 white print. With ordinary plates, the required amount 
 of density is not always easy to get, and special photo- 
 mechanical plates are supplied by Mr. John Carbutt, of 
 Wayne Junction, Philadelphia, Pa., which give the desired 
 result. These plates are slow, thickly coated, and capable 
 of giving great density, all of which are characteristics pe- 
 culiarly suitable to the purpose. But in the end the pro- 
 cess man will not thank you for saving him the trouble of 
 making a negative ; he is accustomed to make negatives of 
 a certain kind, and very properly prefers to do this himself. 
 
 Not the least contributory towards a good reproduction 
 is the power which reduction from the original places in 
 our hands. When making the copy negative it is most 
 usual to make it much smaller, or, inversely, the original 
 drawing is made a good deal larger than it is required to 
 appear (See Illustration on page 72). A somewhat ragged 
 line of (say) one-eighth of an inch in width, would, if 
 sufficiently reduced in size, come out as a fine line no 
 thicker than a hair. Though reduction carried to such a 
 degree would be impracticable, a drawing twelve inches 
 by nine inches, reduced to eight by six, will usually be 
 advantageous. Not only is a certain degree of coarseness 
 and roughness thus removed, but the lines themselves be- 
 come smoother and rounder; lines, however, which are 
 very close together, are apt to close up into a solid mass, 
 both from the reduction and because lines sometimes have 
 
62 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 a tendency to thicken in reproduction — a point to be 
 guarded against when drawing. 
 
 If a drawing be examined through a simple double 
 concave lens, that is to say the reverse of a magnifying- 
 glass, the effect of reproduction can be seen, and the re- 
 sult anticipated; such lenses, called “diminishing 
 glasses,” are sold expressly for the purpose. 
 
 The reader need hardly be reminded that everything 
 on the drawing will be reproduced, except perhaps blue 
 pencil lines, this colour being photographically white; 
 hence all finger-marks, spots, and stains must be carefully 
 avoided. No doubt these, and sundry faults in drawing, 
 can be cut away by the engraver, but an ideal block is 
 one which requires no such helps to perfection, but which 
 comes from the etcher’s hands ready for use, and to such 
 an ideal even the tyro must work. 
 
 The strong point and chief recommendation of a process 
 block is that it reproduces in facsimile the draughtsman’s 
 original; once introduce hand-work and it begins to lose 
 this character; moreover expense and delay in production 
 are incurred, again depriving the mechanical block of its 
 distinctive and valuable features. 
 
 Sundry elementary methods of getting an image on to 
 zinc for etching without the intervention of photography 
 may perhaps suggest themselves to the reader. Thus, for 
 instance, an outline drawing may be made in transfer ink 
 on transfer paper and at once laid down on the zinc and 
 etched. A glass plate, coated with a soft opaque sub- 
 stance, may have a design scratched thereon and be used 
 in place of a negative ; but such methods are crude and 
 limited, and need not be considered hbre. 
 
 We will now pass to an examination of the various 
 kinds of drawings suitable for reproduction by relief pro- 
 cess blocks, describing as nearly as possible how they are 
 made and with what materials. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 METHODS OF LINE REPRODUCTION. 
 
 O those who have not previously given the matter at- 
 
 tention, it will be a source of some astonishment to 
 
 find a wide range of tones, that is varying degrees of 
 light and shade, may be suggested by so simple and un- 
 promising a means as black lines on a white ground. 
 Perhaps no better means exists for getting some insight 
 of this than by careful and persistent study of the line 
 illustrations constantly appearing in the better class pe- 
 riodicals, such as The English Illustrated , The Strand , 
 Harper's , Sketch , Black and White , and many others. In 
 these we get frequent examples of the work of different 
 men, and shall soon begin to realise not only the wide 
 possibilities of line work, but the extremely different 
 styles of various artists; and so long as the practice is not 
 too long continued, or too much relied on, some advan- 
 tageous exercise ma} 7 be found in carefully copying such 
 examples; being watchful in so doing that, quite inde- 
 pendent of outline, our copy suggests the same materials, 
 fabrics, &c., as are suggested in the original, and that this 
 suggestion be arrived at by the same kind of treatment. 
 
 In this kind of drawing there is obviously no such 
 thing actually as “tone,” everything being black or 
 white, and yet it is possible to suggest every gradation 
 
64 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 and most delicate tonal relationships of colours by this 
 elementary means; the varied textures of objects can also 
 be most convincing !) 7 suggested . 1 
 
 Probably one of the first things that will strike us, on 
 inspecting many styles of drawing, is the fact that while 
 some draughtsmen expend enormous labour in filling the 
 whole design with multitudinous strokes of the pen, 
 others obtain effect by a very few lines and great ex- 
 panses of white paper. A great number of strokes rapidly 
 put in, in the manner of shading with pencil, and a few 
 bold lines slowly and deliberately drawn, constitute the 
 two chief differences of style. In the latter, the principal 
 study is perhaps to know what to leave out, and nowhere 
 is the knowledge and skill of the artist better seen than 
 when the subject is satisfactorily rendered with the least 
 possible amount of labour, there being not one unneces- 
 sary or superfluous line. Such powerful sketches, by Mr. 
 Reginald Cleaver, may be seen in The Daily Graphic , and 
 by Mr. Phil May in The Sketch. In these drawings a 
 maximum of effect is attained with a minimum of work, 
 and one feels that every line is essential and not one can 
 be spared. 
 
 In most cases, for all the purposes of illustration, a 
 black coat need not be suggested by any more lines of 
 shading than a white gown; but the artist who so deter- 
 mines may carry his work to a higher standard and, with 
 greater labour, even succeed in giving a suggestion of 
 colour in the objects portrayed. But, even in such elabo- 
 rate work, there should be no more execution than is es- 
 sential, and the finished drawing should in no case make 
 its elaborate execution felt. The thing which must first 
 
 1 The term “tone,” as used here and elsewhere throughout this book, is a. 
 word universally employed in art to express varying degrees of lightness 
 and darkness irrespective of colour. The word “shade,” as commonly used 
 and accepted, comes nearest to its meaning, but that shade refers rather to- 
 varying tint of local colour, as when one says “a beautiful shade of pink.” 
 “Shade” is also used to express the reverse of “ light,” as “light and shade.”" 
 Objects in nature, when represented in correct relationship of lightness and. 
 darkness, are said to be in correct relative tone. 
 
6 ) 
 
 A HAND ROOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 impress the spectator is the success of the general effect; 
 never should there he hi st awakened a feeling of astonish- 
 ment at the extraordinary amount of patience bestowed, 
 or labour expended. If the first remark called forth is 
 one of admiration for the extraordinary dexterity , we 
 may be pretty sure that the draughtsman has been be- 
 trayed into the commonly besetting sin of over-elabora- 
 tion, and whatever success has been attained in the effect 
 rendered it would have been probably better if produced 
 with less effort. It would have been more forcible if 
 not overwhelmed, as it were, with so much work. 
 
 Never, then, let the delight which we may feel in mak- 
 ing a pretty “finished” drawing get the better of our judg- 
 ment when drawing for reproduction. Remember that 
 “prettiness” comes very near to “ pettiness, ” and delicacy 
 and fineness are apt to become “niggling” and pedantic; 
 coarseness is a lesser danger than excessive neatness. 
 
 Much of this, as already suggested, may be more clearly 
 learned from the careful examination and comparison of 
 good published drawings. 
 
 Imitate, and copy if you like, up to a certain degree, 
 remembering always that you are thus copying merely to 
 ascertain by what means other men express their ideas in 
 line , and not for your ozvn practice. 
 
 In like manner etchings, engravings, and indeed ever ) 7 
 kind of print made up of lines , may be studied and, to 
 some extent, copied; but only in order to familiarise 
 oneself with what lines, and combinations of lines, may 
 be made to do; but the danger of continuing such a prac- 
 tice cannot be too much emphasised. Every artist or 
 draughtsman, be he beginner or expert, must draw for 
 himself and according to his own feelings and promptings. 
 In every department of art the successful have had their 
 imitators, and these again their imitators, and at each 
 successive stage the further one gets from originality, 
 the more trammelled, the more impotent and hopelessly 
 beyond the possibility of really great work. 
 
 That the drawing is not the end in view, but merely a 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL USB BA TION. 
 
 67 
 
 means to an end (that end being the reproduction), is a 
 matter to which I shall refer later on; but it should here 
 be noted, and moreover the student may be reminded, 
 that every line and every mark which he makes will be 
 similarly reproduced by the process. When drawing. for 
 wood engraving, the engraver could be instructed to 
 strengthen this or leave out that; not so the mechanical 
 block, which is to be regarded as normally an untouched 
 and purely mechanical thing, only to be altered by hand 
 on the rarest possible occasions, and then only when time 
 and circumstances permit. This character of indiscrim- 
 inating facsimile is not to be considered as a disadvantage 
 in any way; the good draughtsman is thankful for it, he 
 knows what to reckon upon, and to all it must be an incen- 
 tive to do one’s best. It is the same difference as between 
 a mirror and an average photographer’s portrait: the 
 mirror may show us all our faults and yet, if we have any 
 beauty, it does not belie 11s; while we know how often the 
 ordinary commercial carte-dc-znsite is unreliable. 
 
 In the course of studying various reproductions we 
 shall prob bly have become aware that the same things 
 may be very differently rendered by different hands. 
 Thus trees and foliage in landscape may be represented 
 by an outline, and a few black patches and dots, or by 
 numerous clearly drawn parallel lines, or yet again by 
 irregular strokes crossing and recrossing each other; 
 evidently, then, there is no intention here of imitating 
 nature. And so, throughout, the aim of the pen draughts- 
 man is to suggest , rather than to portray things exactly as 
 they are. Lines, scratches, or dots, cannot pretend to 
 imitate leafy foliage; and, be it noted, the same lines, 
 scratches, or dots, may be similarly employed, in the 
 same drawing, to suggest something quite different. It 
 is in this employment of various pen marks, to suggest 
 the composition of distinct objects, that individuality of 
 style reveals itself; as does the discreet using of white 
 blanks to express or suggest widely different things. 
 
 I have presumed throughout these pages that I may be 
 
68 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 addressing many to whom the idea of drawing in pen and 
 ir.k (or other material) for reproduction, is entirely a new 
 one; hence it will be necessary to examine the pen strokes 
 which go to make up a complete drawing. Let it be well 
 understood that many things are possible to the accom- 
 plished artist which must not be attempted by the begin- 
 ner; later on we may learn, from our own experience, 
 little freaks and tricks of our own, but we must first of all 
 content ourselves with simple conscientious work. 
 
 In the following examples of pen and ink shading we 
 have first the kind of strokes which the pen would make 
 if used rapidly, as in writing, and without any particular 
 care. In bold sketchy work this sort of handling may be 
 permissible, but the student should practise shading by 
 
 No. 111. 
 
 kxampi.es ok pen and ink shading. 
 
 Reduced to about half the size of original. 
 
 such lines as in No. 2. These are drawn rapidly in suc- 
 cession, the wrist being rested firmly on the table and the 
 hand quite free, as in rapid writing. Commence at the 
 top left-hand corner and work downwards; notice that 
 each stroke is equidistant, parallel, and of the same 
 thickness throughout its length. Look at this from a 
 little distance and it appears like a grey, flat, even tint. 
 This simple “shading” should be tried many times until 
 perfect ease and certainty is acquired, each stroke of the 
 pen being firm, distinct, and black; each stroke intended 
 and nothing uncertain about it. 
 
 A good exercise will be to draw a square, and practise 
 filling it with a flat tint consisting of lines either in the 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 6y 
 
 same direction, or else of lines in varying directions, and 
 then with lines crossing each other or “cross-hatching.” 
 Having now discovered how a flat tint may be laid 
 down, and how such may be made uniformly or gradually 
 
 ( Original iJ4 x t34 •) 
 
 darkei, we may apply such methods to simple objects as 
 the cube and vase here shown. 
 
 By this time we may feel well on the road towards ac- 
 complishing any general subject which we are skilful 
 enough to outline. Of the various mechanical helps to 
 
 (Original 4 x 2.%.) 
 
 drawing outline, for those who lack the required skill, I 
 shall speak hereafter. 
 
 It need hardly be pointed out that as there is, in nature, 
 no such thing as outline: it is purely an arbitrary means 
 of indicating form, and separating one space from another ; 
 
70 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL ULTRA 7 VON. 
 
 whether such spaces be occupied with shading or not, but 
 especially where there is no shading. 
 
 At first it may perhaps be best to make a clear sharp 
 outline of uniform thickness; but later we shall find we 
 m iv often advantageously dispense entirely with outline, 
 letting the shading only distinguish one object from an- 
 other. Notice the absence of outline in the hills in 
 “Near Berry Head,” page 94. 
 
 A little experience will show us that an imperfect out- 
 line, and one which varies in thickness with various ob- 
 jects, will greatly assist in the attractiveness of our 
 sketches. A too rigid outline, as also a too close adher- 
 ence to what has been said about the precision of the 
 shading strokes, tends to a stiff formal appearance which 
 is not to be desired, and destroys anything like original- 
 ity and individuality of style. 
 
 In the accompanying drawing notice these points— the 
 irregularity of on! line, in some parts its entire absence, 
 the value of white spaces, and the suggestive little dots 
 on the white foreground. 
 
 I have already remarked that the drawing is only to be 
 regarded as a means to tin end, and must therefore 1 e 
 made not so as to give satisfaction in itself, but so as to 
 produce a -good mechanical reproduction. However itk- 
 some some artists may feel this working for process re- 
 production, it is not accompanied with any great difficul- 
 ties, nor are its special requirements so very restricting, 
 if only we understand what is wanted. 
 
 Two influences, for good or for evil, exist between the 
 original and the reproduction (two influences to be taken 
 into account, and reckoned with when we are drawing, so 
 as to produce a definite effect in the reproduction), and 
 these are reduction and thickening of the lines. 
 
 A diminishing glass, used to examine any drawings, 
 will at once sho.v the effect of reduction or diminishing, 
 and in rough and rapid drawing this reduction is de- 
 pended upon to remove irregularities and coarseness. 1 
 
 1 Refer to p. 72. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 7i 
 
 It may be taken for granted that nearly every reproduc- 
 tion we see has been reduced from the original, some 
 more, some less, and while generally speaking we may say 
 that the effect of reduction is to refine and soften ; the 
 
 1\ IIAklU’Uk. 
 
 Pen. drawing. (Original 7 x 6.) 
 
 beginner, however, will sometimes be troubled by finding 
 an increase in the thickness of the lines which is less 
 •agreeable, and is very fickle, and can only to a limited de- 
 gree be counted upon as to the result. Hence the need 
 for keeping darkly shaded portions as open as possible: 
 that is to say, when lines are very close together, or 
 there is cross-hatching, see that the lines do not needlessly 
 run into each other, but that the little white interstices 
 are well preserved. Keep the shading open (the rough 
 net-like effect can be got rid of by reduction), and remem- 
 
72 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL U ST R A LION. 
 
 ber that not only do some lines thicken up, and so engulf 
 the intervening white, but in reduction the white spaces 
 reduce as well as the black lines, and may be reduced 
 into invisibility. 
 
 Some definite rules have sometimes been suggested to 
 guide the process man as to the amount of reduction best 
 suited for average work; these, however, like many other 
 rules of the kind, are quite arbitrary. On this subject 
 
 Same size as original. 
 
 Mr. Henry Blackburn says, with an authority based upon 
 the experience of reducing, to various scales, some thou- 
 sands of drawings: “As to the amount of reduction that a 
 drawing will bear in reproduction, it cannot be sufficiently 
 widely known that in spite of rules laid down there is no 
 rule about it. ’’ 
 
 In some instances no reduction is required, and the re- 
 production is so exact a replica of the original that it can 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION '. 
 
 73 
 
 hardly be distinguished, yet, “On the other hand, the 
 value of reduction for certain styles of drawing can 
 hardly be over-estimated”; and again, “Every drawing 
 has its scale, to which it is best reduced.” 
 
 The effect of the reduction may be seen in the accom- 
 panying three examples, the first being the same size as 
 the original, and the others reduced as marked. 
 
 ( Original AA x AS-) 
 
 Until some experience has been gained in this direc- 
 tion, and apart from the exigencies of the space the illus- 
 tration is required to fill, the process engraver will prob- 
 ably be the best authority for us to consult as regards the 
 amount of reduction suitable to each individual drawing. 
 A reduction of one-third is a very usual one, so long as 
 the drawing is not unusually rough or clumsy. 
 
 Referring to the effect of reduction upon lines laid 
 down to express a flat tint, Mr. H. R. Robertson gives 
 some interesting notes upon the number of lines required 
 to be drawn in r an inch square to produce an even grey 
 
74 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA TION. 
 
 tint. I do not think too much importance should be 
 attached to such calculations, as they are likely to em- 
 barrass the draughtsman and make him far too much con- 
 cerned with the mere mechanism of his work; still, the 
 matter is an interesting one. He says that from experi- 
 ment he finds it will usually require about 108 to 120 lines 
 within an inch to give to the naked eye the idea of a flat 
 tint or wash, but that about 80 to an inch is as many as 
 can be drawn to the inch by unaided vision; eighty lines 
 to the inch gives 120 in \ l / 2 inches, which, if reduced in 
 reproduction by one-third, will give the requisite number 
 of 1 20 to the inch which Mr. Robertson finds desirable. 
 The effect produced, however, by parallel lines of shading 
 alters considerably when the direction of the- lines alters, 
 and I think' it is only necessary for us to glance through 
 
 Academy ISotes, or any similar collection of sketches 
 made by artists who understand the importance of convey- 
 ing suggestions with pencil or pen, to assure us that far 
 fewer lines are in many cases quite capable of giving the 
 idea of an even tint. Such rules and figures are interest- 
 ing, and perhaps useful, but they arc certainly dangerous 
 if the student places himself too much in subjection to 
 their influence. 
 
 The beginner in pen drawing is probably destined to 
 meet with severe disappointments at first from the manner 
 in which the proceso will reproduce his woik, and the in- 
 clination is to blame the process as unsympathetic, or the 
 process man as incompetent, whereas the fault lies with 
 the chawing, which is unsuitable through a want of proper 
 recard for the requirements of process. 
 
 For instance, nothing is commoner with the student 
 than to find such portions of our drawing as distance, sky, 
 and the more delicate shading come up heavy and black 
 — quite different to the original, and robbing such parts 
 of it of all delicacy; or it may be that lines which we be- 
 lieved to be fine, smooth, flowing lines, reproduce as 
 broken and irregular. 
 
 The root of both these evils will probably be found in 
 
C Original 7 x 14.) 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 It 
 
 the fact that in our drawing we have been producing light 
 and distant effects by grey lines instead of fine black 
 ones. Drawing with the pen insufficiently charged with 
 ink, or with ink diluted with water, will give these grey 
 lines; but the line process, recognising nothing but black 
 and white, either reproduces the grey lines as black, or 
 reproduces them imperfectly as broken and irregular. 
 Here, then, will be another matter for the beginner to 
 exercise himself in: namely, the drawing of good black 
 lines and an avoidance of grey ones. With drawings 
 made on a fairly large scale, so that every line can be 
 made firmly and boldly, we are less likely to fall into 
 making grey lines. 
 
 With etchings, in which the image is in intaglio, grada- 
 tion in the lines is possible; because, according to the 
 depth of the etched line, a greater or less amount of ink 
 is contained, and a grey line can be printed therefrom. 
 And so, for this reason, etchings are misleading if used as 
 copies or examples from which to draw in pen and ink. 
 
 When the drawing has been first drawn in with pencil 
 and inked over, every vestige of pencil marks must be 
 carefully removed, otherwise the process reproduces 
 them, not as soft grey marks, but as black as those made 
 in ink, and some very unpleasant surprises will be the re- 
 sult. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TOOLS AND MATERIALS FOR LINE DR A WING. 
 
 O produce a line drawing which shall comprise such 
 
 characteristics as have now been enunciated, three 
 
 essentials will be required: a white surface, a black fluid, 
 and a suitable instrument to convey the fluid at will. 
 These we will take seriatim , in their conventional order — 
 Papers, Inks, and Pens. 
 
 The material most largely used for drawing on is prob- 
 ably white Bristol board, of four-sheet or six-sheet thick- 
 ness, and this will answer better than anything else in 
 almost all cases. Some attention should be paid to the 
 tint of the card, many cardboards having a tendency to 
 turn yellow with age and exposure. A cardboard of a 
 pure white, or a slight tendency to a bluish tint, is what 
 we require, a blue card being in photographic reproduc- 
 tion practically the same as white. Upon the surface of 
 the cardboard will greatly depend the ease with which we 
 shall get clean sharp lines. With many cardboards, in 
 which the surface is apparently smooth, the pen finds 
 irregularities and sometimes obstacles to its smooth and 
 even progress, catching and “spluttering” over little 
 particles of hard matter or hair. 
 
 A good Bristol board, such as is procurable at any ar- 
 tists’ colourman, presents no such difficulties, and the 
 making of a fine smooth line should be quite easy. 
 
 77 
 
78 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Messrs. Reynoldsand Sons supply variouskindsof boards 
 equally suitable for pen work. The bank note Bristol 
 manufactured by F W. Devoe & Co. is also especially 
 adapted to this work. 
 
 The process man will very likely recommend you to use 
 a ‘‘clay surface” board, and no doubt in some instances 
 these have their advantages. On these clay boards the 
 pen strokes are remarkably clean and crisp, and have a 
 good deal the appearance of having been produced me- 
 chanically rather than by hand; a very fine line, however, 
 is difficult to produce, the result being rather like, but in 
 a much less degree, drawing on an enamelled card on 
 which the ink spreads; at the same time, however, there 
 will be less liability to make grey lines. A further ad- 
 vantage of a clay surface is that the surface is easily re- 
 movable with the blade of a penknife, so that faults may 
 be scraped or cut away — a feature put to very important 
 use in boards specially made for scraping, which are de- 
 scribed on p. 96. For large, bold work a clay board is 
 useful, but it should not be too often used on account of 
 the hard, mechanical appearance of the drawing. 
 
 Whatman papers, or boards having a surface of What- 
 man paper, are also much used, and these are procurable 
 in two surfaces: H.-P., or “Hot-pressed,” the smoothest; 
 and N., or “Not hot-pi essed, ” the surface of which is 
 sufficiently rough to make it very pleasant to work on, 
 but not too much so. If using the H.-P., the surface 
 must be wiped over with a clean wet sponge to remove a 
 ceitain gloss which the process of hot-pressing imparts 
 to it. 
 
 There is no particular virtue in any special paper or 
 boaul beyond whiteness, evenness, and purity; any paper 
 having these qualities may be used with success. I 
 should not recommend the beginner to experiment with 
 too many kinds; he will in the end be probably no nearer 
 satisfaction than at the outset; Start on ordinary white 
 Bristol and persevere, attributing failures to your own 
 incompetence rather than to any fault in the materials. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 79 
 
 Some of the very best things have been produced on any 
 scrap of notepaper or other wlnte surface that has been 
 at. hand. 
 
 Of suitable black fluids there are many varieties, and 
 the beginner may as easily concern himself a great deal 
 too much about inks as about any other part of the neces- 
 sary materials. 
 
 Cakes or sticks of dry pigment, or pans and tubes of 
 moist colour, may be employed, but for general conveni- 
 ence a fluid black will be best. These are of two kinds: 
 “fixed,” which isnot removable by water, and “ordinary” ; 
 and it may be well to consider beforehand the work we 
 are going to do, and use the indelible, or fixed, ink if 
 necessary. 
 
 I mean by this that we may sometimes require to use 
 Chinese white over our black lines to produce whites, which 
 could not easily be left as blanks, in which case it will be 
 necessary to use a fixed black, else the Chinese white 
 would smear and spoil the black. 
 
 The introduction of Chinese white is, however, an ex- 
 ception rather than the rule, and when the use of an in- 
 delible ink is not important, Stephens Ebony Stain is 
 admirable. It works easily, and although it dries with a 
 slight gloss, which is usually a disadvantage, it repro- 
 duces well. It can be immediately thinned when becom- 
 ing too thick by the addition of a little water, care being 
 taken not to dilute it sufficiently to make it grey. It is 
 sold in bottles at sixpence and a shilling, and is manu- 
 factured by the well-known makers of writing ink, but 
 may be procured from the artists’ colourmen. Messrs. 
 Reeves and Sons have introduced a fluid black, called 
 Artists’ Black; this is made both “indelible” and “not 
 indelible.” This has become very popular of late, and 
 is largely used ; the not indelible, with water, making fine 
 greys for wash drawing. Higgins’ American “Water- 
 proof” India Ink is also extensively used, and has received 
 high commendation. Fixed Indian Ink is sold in fluid 
 form, and Lampblack and Ivory black in tubes and cakes. 
 
8o 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Ordinary writing ink is quite unsuitable; it “runs” 
 when fine lines cross, and is either too blue or too brown 
 in colour. Common Indian Ink is also too brown to repro- 
 duce well, so that the beginner will do wisely to use one 
 of the above-named blacks, which are prepared for the 
 purpose, and so diminish his chances of failure. All 
 are sold in bottles at sixpence or one shilling. 
 
 Not taking account of eccentricities of accomplished 
 artists, who may use some special medium to their fancy, 
 and whose very mastership guarantees their success in 
 whatever medium they may work, a dull intense black 
 line on a pure white surface is the ideal to be attained. 
 
 It may be mentioned that if for any exceptional pur- 
 pose the reproduction is to be printed in coloured ink, the 
 original had better be drawn in a like colour, always ex- 
 cepting blue or anything approaching thereto. But 
 brown, green, red, and orange are permissible, and will 
 photograph correctly. A black drawing, reproduced in 
 brown or other colour, is apt to give a very different im- 
 pression, and still more so if a colour be reproduced in 
 black. 
 
 Chinese white has been referred to, and should cer- 
 tainly always be at hand. If applied fairly thickly with 
 a fine brush it will efface any faulty ink marks, and may 
 also be used to introduce lights into shading which has 
 been worked up too solid. It is also useful for putting in 
 small lights, as in windows, or longitudinal white streaks 
 on water which has been shaded in dark. It should be 
 of good quality, and kept well stoppered in a strong glass 
 or stone bottle. 
 
 With regard to the pen to be used there is more latitude 
 for individual taste, as what one man can do with a given 
 pen another cannot. The manufacturers who have given 
 most attention to the requirements of draughtsmen are 
 J. Gillott and Sons, the well-knowm makers of pens of all 
 kinds. Many kinds of Brandauer’s and Blanzy Poure and 
 Co.’s pens are also very good. 
 
 It should not be supposed that a ver) T fine-pointed pen 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Si 
 
 is essential, for on the contrary a small tool often seems 
 to lead to the making of small, niggling work. Mr. C. G. 
 Harper finds a well-cut quill pen delightful for making- 
 pen studies, and says “it flies over all descriptions of 
 paper, rough or smooth, without the least catching of 
 fibres or spluttering. It is the freest and least trammel- 
 ling of pens, and seems almost to draw of its own voli- 
 tion. ’’ A glass drawing-pen, such as is used by mechan- 
 ical designers, &c., has its uses, but it is only capable of 
 making a uniformly thick line. 
 
 An assortment of one dozen of Gillott’s pens can be ob- 
 tained for one shilling, and from these our selection can 
 be made. Brandauer’s No. 515 and No. 342 E.F. are well 
 spoken of, and have the advantage of not becoming- 
 scratchy with use. A flexible pen, capable of making fine 
 as well as thick strokes, working evenly, and not soon 
 worn out, is what should be sought, and having found 
 two or three kinds to suit, stick to them, and make your- 
 self thoroughly master of their capabilities. Should any 
 difficulty exist in obtaining a special pen, an ordinary 
 “F“ writing nib will not lead you far wrong, while for 
 bold vigorous drawing I should prefer a gold “J” ; it is 
 clear from this that mere fineness of point is not an es- 
 sential matter. 
 
 The possibilities of a particular pen are not learnt all 
 at once, it should be persevered with and understood. It 
 has been recommended that two or three pens of different 
 character should respectively be used on different por- 
 tions of the same drawing. There may be advantages in 
 this, especially if a drawing contain a very wide varia- 
 tion in quality of its lines. It may sometimes be that 
 very bold thick work in foreground is associated with fine 
 delicate work in distance and sky. 
 
 Some artists prefer to use a fine brush instead of a pen. 
 
 A small sable brush, having the outside hairs cut away, 
 or a long hair brush known as “tracer” or “rigger,” is 
 capable of making fine lines hardly to be distinguished 
 from pen strokes. At first they are slow to work with, 
 
82 
 
 A HANDBOOK OT ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 but considerable rapidity may be acquired with practice. 
 The lines are rounder and not so harsh as those made 
 ■with the pen, and it is said that an artist who has once 
 accustomed himself to use a brush never goes back to pens. 
 The foregoing materials and pens are for the produc- 
 
 \See p. 86. 
 
 A FIELD PATH. 
 
 Bitumen process. {Or initial x 6M). 
 
 tion of simple black line drawings on a white ground, 
 and it is in this direction that I should advise the student 
 to persevere and cultivate himself. All the beauty and 
 expressiveness of lines is only realised after long practice; 
 and, of the many ways of illustrating by line process, it 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 83 
 
 is the best means of self-education, compared with which 
 all others are flippant and inconsequent. 
 
 Still, with some truth it has been said that it is only 
 by experiment that we learn to achieve distinction, and 
 
 A FIELD PATH. 
 
 Swelled j^elatitie. ( Original iSi x 614.') [See p. 86. 
 
 so after a while we may indulge in experiments in other 
 directions, and try our hand at the various tricks which 
 the ingenious have placed within our reach. These will 
 be described in Chapter XI. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 COMPARISON OF PROCESSES. 
 
 HE method of drawing in line referred to in the two 
 
 preceding chapters may be regarded as traditional 
 and of the normal character, and we shall next take under 
 consideration various other methods of drawing equally 
 suitable for reproduction by line process. 
 
 In the meantime, we will see how the processes for 
 producing blocks in relief may be applied and see by a 
 few examples how the results compare. 
 
 With the artist, the Swelled Gelatine process will prob- 
 ably rank as first favourite, and this because it is less 
 exacting in its requirements. 
 
 Although only rendering the drawing in black and 
 white, it is certainly more sympathetic, and does to some 
 extent recognise the weaker impression of a grey line. 
 By this process many ordinary black and white drawings, 
 made without any regard for the demands of the process 
 man, reproduce well, but would be impossible by the 
 cheaper zinc etching; moreover, it is admirably suited to 
 reproduce drawings in which a mixture of pen and pencil 
 has been employed, an example of which will be given 
 later. 
 
 The artist or draughtsman is not, however, usually 
 master of the situation; the printer and publisher will 
 
86 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 use the cheaper methods, to suit which we must adopt, 
 to a certain degree, a conventional manner. If a drawing 
 be seriously studied, it is often surprising how much of 
 the feeling of the draughtsman is conveyed to us through 
 the strokes of his pen or pencil, and it is just this feeling 
 which the Gelatine process preserves in great measure, 
 but which the commoner methods sift out and give us a 
 mere mechanical translation. Still, by suiting ourselves 
 to these more ordinary processes, much may be done to 
 compensate for the lack of sympathy which they display. 
 
 I have given (pp. 82, 83) two reproductions from the 
 identical drawing, in order that comparison may be made. 
 
 The Bitumen process is characterised by the crude, 
 sincere, line given, ignoring many finer lines, and bring- 
 ing others up black and hard. 
 
 The Albumen process is the one by which probably 
 the greatest number of blocks are made in this country, 
 and, when carried to a high degree of perfection, yields 
 some very pleasing results which, though inferior to 
 swelled Gelatine, are better than the Bitumen. Ordina- 
 rily, however, there is not very much to choose between 
 these two, and a very great number of examples would 
 have to be examined in order to properl} 7 exhibit the 
 differences. 
 
 The comparison of results by these three processes is a 
 subject which has given rise to some controversy. The 
 artist, who has also usually been the author in this 
 matter, has pronounced favourably for the swelled gela- 
 tine; but in this the process expert is in disagreement. 
 After comparing carefully a variety of results, I am in- 
 clined to think that perhaps too much importance is 
 attached to the supposed advantages of the swelled gela- 
 tine, and two powerful contributories to success are not 
 sufficiently considered. Swelled gelatine is not used for 
 ordinary newspaper work, and is charged at a much 
 higher rate; and for this reason, probably, greater care is 
 taken in the block-making, and, being used in higher 
 class publications, it is more carefully printed from than 
 
88 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 is possible in the vast majority of cases when the cheaper 
 blocks are used. The use of zinc blocks in cheap, rapidly 
 printed publications probably prohibits the process hav- 
 ing full justice done to it, and we are apt to judge its 
 possibilities by the examples we too often see. Cheap- 
 ness, short time, and rapid printing are factors calculated 
 
 UNTOUCHED LINE BLOCK. 
 [Original 7x6.) 
 
 to spoil the reputation of any process. If bitumen and 
 albumen could receive the same amount of care and atten- 
 tion as is customarily bestowed upon the more expensive 
 swelled gelatine, there seems little reason why results 
 should not be equal. 
 
 In considering the application of such various methods, 
 we are brought to that somewhat singular contest which 
 seems to exist in every sphere of work wherein art is 
 concerned, it is the disagreement and misunderstanding 
 which exists between artist and craftsman. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL US TR A LION. 
 
 89 
 
 The enterprising endeavour of the process-block maker 
 is to perfect his process to produce a clean, bright, fault- 
 less piece of technical work; a process which shall pro- 
 duce from all kinds of originals an equally brilliant print, 
 so that, when he is called to reproduce a special effect 
 which the artist may desire, he seems incapable of under- 
 
 LINE BLOCK LIGHTENED BY ROULETTE. 
 ( Original 7 x 6.) 
 
 standing as desirable anything which falls short of his 
 own arbitrary standard. It is as though the artist’s 
 eolourman said to the painter, you must varnish all your 
 picture so as to show the full richness and gloss of the 
 colours, no matter whether the painter reckoned on some 
 degree of dulness to give a certain effect. 
 
 So the material maker will aim at supplying canvas 
 or board of as fine and smooth a surface as possible, and 
 it is at first difficult to persuade him that the artist is 
 right in desiring a coarse, rough surface. The process 
 
go 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA LION. 
 
 man and material maker are ever on the side of polish, 
 brilliancy, and fineness. 
 
 Execution and [craft invariably seem to be at war with 
 feeling and art, and I would strongly caution my reader 
 against being too much concerned about the relative 
 virtues of various processes, or too much prejudiced by 
 what others may have to say. Whatever your artist 
 friend may advise is pretty certain to be discounted by 
 your block-maker; and in course of time, and after ex- 
 perience, you will probably form your own individual 
 opinion, which will be at variance with both. 
 
 It is at this stage that more particular mention may be 
 made of the use of the roulette to correct by hand, on the 
 zinc block, the misinterpretations of the process. The 
 roulette consists of a sharp-edged toothed wheel of minute 
 proportions, which is passed backwards and forwards 
 across lines which have come up too black, thus breaking 
 such lines into tiny dots, which therefore print greyer. 
 
 It is well to know that such a revision of the block, as 
 first turned out, is possible, and we shall sometimes be 
 glad to make use of it. Still, as before pointed out, such 
 hancl-work must not be relied upon. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 OTHER METHODS ADAPTED FOR LINE RE- 
 PROD UCT10N. 
 
 HEN a large space is required to be covered with 
 
 an even tint, an immense saving of labour and time 
 
 may be effected by the use of “Shading media’’; but be- 
 yond a mere saving of labour they ma) 7 , if discreetly 
 used, be made to - 
 
 on page 85, in which the shading medium has been 
 applied everywhere except in the few white spots. 
 
 Such an application is particularly useful for evening 
 or twilight subjects, but it is more usual to employ them 
 locally, especially for skies. They are also largely used 
 by some artists for figures, in the manner shown in illus- 
 tration on page 65, in which the shading is so effectively 
 used on the waistcoat and hat of the man. 
 
 produce some very 
 desirable effects. 
 
 | 
 
 If applied to the 
 entire surface, the 
 result is very like 
 a half-tone process 
 
 91 
 
92 A HA NDBOOK OF ILL USTRA 710 N. 
 
 The pattern of the tint varies greatly, there being more 
 than a dozen distinct designs, a few examples of which 
 are given on page 91. 
 
 These shading media are introduced on to the zinc 
 block after printing from the negative (see Chap. VII.), 
 foi which purpose transparent sheets of gelatine, on 
 
 SHADING MEDIUM ON PEN SKETCH VIGNETTE. 
 ( Original 5x4.) 
 
 which the required pattern has been engraved and'pre- 
 viously inked, are used. By pressing these on to the 
 albumen or othei surface of the block, an ink impression 
 is tiansftired, which accordingly protects the surface 
 during etching in the same manner as the rest of the 
 picture. I he “shading ’ need not be restricted to the 
 blank spaces only, but may be pressed on to any part or 
 the whole of the block; and there is no reason why two 
 or more different patterns should not be used in combi- 
 nation on the same subject. The gelatine sheets being 
 transparent, the process worker can see exactly where to 
 apply them, and can do so with considerably intricacy. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL US FRA LION. 
 
 93 
 
 In sending to the etchers a drawing in which a shading 
 medium is to be introduced, the practice is to mark such 
 portions as are to be shaded by scribbling over with blue 
 pencil; this is at once understood better than written in- 
 structions. It had better be stated whether a dark or light 
 tint be required; also whether it is to be vignetted or 
 shaded all over. Vignetting is the most usual, as seen 
 in the accompanying block, page 92. It is usual for the 
 process people to make a slight additional charge for the 
 introduction of tints; especially if at all complicated. 
 And, of course, if special experiments in the combination 
 of various tints be intended, requiring special care, fair 
 consideration must be made for the additional trouble 
 and labour. 
 
 Like most mechanical aids to drawing, shading media 
 must be adopted with discretion, and they can at best be 
 considered as a poor substitute for pure hand-work; they 
 economise time and are useful in an emergency, but I 
 should certainly caution the beginner against the too 
 frequent use of them. 
 
 An ingenious method of imparting a certain greyness 
 to some portions of a drawing is illustrated by the ac- 
 companying sketch “Near Berry Head.” 
 
 This is known as “Splatter work,” and consists of 
 sprinkling minute dots of the black drawing fluid wher- 
 ever required. 
 
 The drawing is first executed in the usual way, and all 
 portions which are not to be “splattered” upon are 
 covered over with pieces of paper cut to the necessary 
 shape and size. 
 
 A stiff bristle brush is then inked; nothing serving for 
 the purpose better than an ordinary tooth-brush. Hold- 
 ing the brush in the left hand, with the bristles down- 
 wards, the bristles are to be briskly stroked with any 
 handy stick of wood; in this manner a spray of tiny dots 
 of ink is splashed on to the paper beneath. 
 
 Perhaps a finer and more regular spray may be obtained 
 by taking the brush in the right hand and brushing it 
 
NEAR BERRY HEAD. 
 
 Pen drawing— foreground dotted by “ splatter ” work. ( Original 6 % x 5 .) 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 95 
 
 over the fine teeth of a comb, by which means the splashes 
 can be with more certainty directed to a particular spot. 
 Superfluous ink should be struck off the brush before 
 sprinkling the drawing, and some portions of the pro- 
 tecting paper masks can be removed before others if 
 some of the “splattering” be required to extend further. 
 
 It will be best to use an indelible or fixed ink for this 
 work, as, even after practice, some ugly splashes are apt 
 to occur, which will have to be afterwards corrected with 
 Chinese white. Splatter work is more largely practised 
 in America, and is just one of those tricks which in dex- 
 terous hands is sometimes so peculiarly happy in its re- 
 sults, and yet so apparently unresponsive in others. 
 
 We now come to consider an important group of draw- 
 ing methods, known as “Scratch boards.” 
 
 In speaking of white cardboards, reference was made 
 to clay surface boards, and the possibility of removing 
 any fault by scraping with a knife. We have now to do 
 with a selection of boards in which the clay surface and 
 the scraping-out possibilities are carried to the utmost 
 practical extent, and made use of as a chief method of repre- 
 sentation, not as a means to correct mistakes. These boards 
 are of two principal kinds: ist. White, on which are 
 
 impressed white indented lines, giving the whole a ribbed 
 appearance; and, 2nd, Black reticulations, or lines printed 
 at right angles to the impressed grain or ribs. 
 
 Canvas-like reticulations, irregular grain or “Aquatint’ ’ 
 dots, and diagonal or vertical lines, are the most useful 
 patterns (of which there are many) ; they may be obtained 
 at F. W. Devoe & C. T. Raynolds Co. and most of the 
 dealers in materials, and are known as scratch-out, 
 scrape-out or stipple boards. 
 
 Both boards are of a somewhat similar description, 
 differing only in the method of producing the pattern. In 
 the white boards the marks are impressed; whereas in 
 the black ones they are printed. 
 
 Taking the black patterns first, the grain printed there- 
 on supplies ns with a flat grey tint composed of numerous 
 
96 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 fine black lines; this for convenience we will call the 
 full tint. Now if we gently scrape the clay surface with 
 the sharp point of a knife, moving - it across the black 
 lines, they will be removed from the top of the impressed 
 
 No. I. No. II. 
 
 DIAGONAL LINES. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF HLACK GRAIN “SCRAPE HOARDS.” 
 
 ( Original size.') 
 
 ridges which cross at right angles, thus at once convert- 
 the black lines into rows of black dots , and giving a 
 lighter tint which we will call a half-tint. Closely exam- 
 ine the accompanying series of specimens, and this will 
 be at once recognised. 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 97 
 
 In No. i we have a board with parallel ruling, as sup- 
 plied by the makers; in No. 2, a few strokes of the knife 
 lhave converted some of the lines into dots; in No. 3, the 
 Iknife has been used more vigorously, scraping away lines 
 altogether and thus producing plain whites. This, then, 
 fgives us full tint, half-tint, and white. Now if we work 
 wvith pencil or pen on the full tint, building up the draw- 
 ing precisely as if drawing on plain white card, and then 
 scrape out, as just illustrated, it will be seen what a wide 
 irange of “tones” will be suggested. 
 
 The drawing is to be put in first either with crayon, 
 pencil, or ink, and the scraping done afterwards; by this 
 
 No I. No. IT. No. III. 
 
 rmeans any mistakes can readily be scratched out: no 
 small consolation to the unpractised. But, on the other 
 lhand, a faulty scratch or scrape cannot be rectified, hence 
 tthe greater need for care. 
 
 The manner of handling the knife (an ordinary pen- 
 knife, or a specially constructed blade, may be used) 
 cdiffers a good deal in individual workers, but the safer 
 manner is perhaps to keep the knife well up and nearly 
 wertical. Avoid outlines, allowing the different degrees 
 off tint to separate one object from another, as one would 
 dlo in a wash drawing, and proceed somewhat in the 
 nnanner illustrated by the accompanying figures. 
 
 One of the difficulties to be guarded against is the too 
 g;reat evidence of scraping, the knife marks often reveal- 
 img themselves much more plainly in the reproduction 
 tlhan in the original, also the too sudden contrast between 
 
cj8 A HANDBOOK OF JLLUSTRA TION. 
 
 the full tint and the scratched half-tint. Notice in the 
 two accompanying sketches on diagonal grain boards, by 
 Mr. C. J‘. Vine, how the full tint, when it meets the half- 
 
 A MISTY MOONRISK. 
 {Original 4 x 2X.) 
 
 ( Original 4 x 2 V-.) 
 
 tint, is broken up by slight irregular scratches; especially 
 is this seen in the sky of “A Misty Moonrise. ” In this 
 sketch, sky, sea, and the sails of the two more distant 
 boats, are almost entirely made up by the diagonal tint 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA T10N. 99 
 
 and the scraped half-tint. Only in the hulls of the boats 
 and the sails of the nearest boat is pen-work introduced, 
 the lines being drawn diagonally from right to left, at 
 right angles to the grain of the full tint . 1 
 
 PEN AND INK ON BLACK LINE SCRAPE BOARD. FIRST STAGE. 
 ' ( Original 5% x 3.) 
 
 PEN AM) INK ON BLACK LINE SCRAPE BOARD WITH WHITE SCRAPED OUT. 
 
 {Original 5% x 3%.) 
 
 A more rapid way of obtaining an effect can hardly be 
 imagined than by these “scraped” boards, and in good 
 
 T Here, with ail due deference, I may draw attention to the unpleasing effect 
 of an illustration of elliptical or “cushion” shape, especially when mixed with 
 letterpress on a book page, the general scheme of which is square or rec- 
 tangular. Unless an irregular shape is for a special purpose desirable, it will 
 be safer to keep the illustrations to a rectangular f orm. 
 
IOO 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 hands, or with practice, the effects obtainable are often 
 very charming. The drawings should, as a rule, be not 
 greatly larger than the reproduction intended — a reduc- 
 tion of one-third or one-half being about the best. All 
 the different kinds of black grain boards are treated in 
 the same manner as above described. 
 
 Now the use of white grained boards is less a scraping 
 method than pure line drawing, much of the “line” being 
 almost mechanically produced by drawing upon the 
 “ribbed” surface with pencil. We know if we place a 
 
 PENCIL ON VERTICAL GRAIN WHITE SCRAPE BOARD. 
 By C. J. Vine. (Original 4x3.) 
 
 piece of paper upon a rough, cloth-covered book and rub 
 a blacklead pencil over it we get a mottled effect, the 
 blacks and whites of which are reproductions of the pro- 
 jections and depressions on the book cover; so if we draw 
 on a ribbed surface clay-board with pen and ink, the ink 
 follows elevation and depression in one continuous pen 
 stroke. If, however, we draw with a black pencil, with- 
 out undue pressure, the pencil passes from one elevation 
 to another, or from one “rib” to another, and thus forms 
 a broken or dotted line, which, although in actual colour 
 as black as an ink line, yet being broken and not solid, 
 wiil reproduce lighter or greyer. A number of adjacent 
 pencil lines would therefore produce a flat tint of dots, 
 very similar to the tint of a “half-tone” block or a 
 “shading medium,” in addition to which, and upon 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. ioi 
 
 which, ink lines may be made to produce deeper blacks. 
 On the accompanying illustration are [pencil marks and 
 ink strokes drawn on a piece of grained white board, the 
 grain or “ribs” being vertical. To the left, a single de- 
 
 N* Tf. N & -nTL 
 
 tached pencil stroke forming] dotted lines; next are ad- 
 jacent pencil lines constituting a grained tint, something 
 very like the full tone of the black-grained blocks before 
 considered, and coarser or finer in proportion as the pencil 
 is pressed more or less heavily ; mext we have some pen 
 and ink lines, the difference of which will at once be seen ; 
 and finally, a mixture of pencil and pen, on which the 
 knife has subsequently been used to]scratch some small 
 lights. This exhausts the practical possibilities of white 
 grained scrape boards. 
 
102 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL ULTRA TJON. 
 
 The accompanying sketches will show somewhat the 
 kind of things obtainable. 
 
 Reduction causes a very marked improvement, and the 
 drawings should be looked at from time to time whilst in 
 progress with a “diminishing” glass. An indelible ink 
 should be used, or one that does not penetrate but rests 
 on the surface: such as ivory-black, lamp-black, or Indian 
 ink. Instead of pencil, a stick of lithographic chalk will 
 be of advantage. In the first place, the greyness of pencil 
 is deceptive, and reproduces blacker than we expect, 
 
 PENCIL AND PEN ON VERTICAL LINE WHITE SCRAPE HOARD. 
 By C . J . Vine . {Of Kin a ! 4x3.) 
 
 moreover pencil rubs and smears; not so lithographic 
 chalk, which does not rub, and is black. The scratching 
 or scraping must be the final stage of a drawing, as only 
 solid pen marks can be put on the white board after^tr.e 
 grained clay surface has been removed. 
 
 Drawings in Pencil or Chalk on Rough Papers. 
 
 By the foregoing description of pencil or chalk drawing 
 on ribbed surfaces, we see how a pencil drawing may be 
 translated by an ordinary line zinco block, instead of the 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRA TION. 103 
 
 more expensive half-tone process described in the earlier 
 chapters. The pencil or crayon point, in passing over a 
 rough or broken surface, forms a series of dots instead of 
 a continuous line. The same thing occurs when pencil is 
 used on a rough surface drawing paper. Such pencillings, 
 being examined, are found to be lead marks, interspersed 
 with minute interstices of white paper, the whole giving 
 a sort of grey tint of greater or less intensity. 
 
 For broad sketchy effects such a drawing method is ex- 
 ceedingly valuable; some very delightful things may be 
 done without the least appearance of the mechanical. 
 
 As may be readily understood from the accompanying 
 
 SEWARDS I’ONK MARSHES. 
 
 Drawing on Conti crayon on rough paper. ( Original 6 x 4.) 
 
 examples, such drawings are best adapted for purely 
 artistic impressions, and not for the portrayal of detail. 
 
 Practically any paper may be used which is white, and 
 whose surface is sufficiently rough; some particular 
 kinds, about to be mentioned, have proved especially 
 successful under experiment. Any material may be used 
 to draw with, preference being given to a black substance 
 which will not smear or rub on being touched. 
 
 A good “B” blacklead pencil has the advantage of 
 being pleasant to handle, and capable of being used with 
 
104 
 
 A HA NDB00K OF ILL USTRA LION. 
 
 a sufficiently fine point to render some details; it has, 
 however, the decided disadvantage of “rubbing” with a 
 very little touching, and the strokes, although fairly in- 
 tense, are not so black as crayon; hence, in reproduction, 
 many portions which were expected to come out soft and 
 delicate, reproduce much too black. We have, then, for 
 our selection, Hardmuth’s or Conte’s crayons, made in 
 several degrees, and also made into cedar-wood pencils — 
 a cleaner and more handy form. Neither of these is, un- 
 fortunately, free from the disadvantage of blurring when 
 rubbed, and will hence require to be fixed before being 
 sent away; the photo-engraver, in the press of his busi- 
 ness, rarely failing to subject drawings to a severe test. 
 
 Fixing ma)^ be best effected by treating the drawing 
 with a solution of one part pure gum mastic dissolved in 
 seven parts methylated spirit. 
 
 In Lernercier’s lithographic crayons we have a drawing 
 medium which gives as satisfactory results as the Conte 
 or Hardmuth, and does not blur; it therefore saves the 
 trouble of fixing. Being greasy, they should be used in 
 a porte-crayon. They are made in three degrees as to 
 hardness, the No. i being the hardest and best suited for 
 drawing the limited amount of detail which is possible 
 with crayons. 
 
 So long as the drawing is not too heavily worked upon, 
 a surprising improvement is secured by reducing. A re- 
 duction of one-half is not too much. 
 
 As to the papers to be used, the following may be 
 mentioned as only some which I have tested, and which 
 others have spoken well of, but there must be a great 
 many other rough surface materials well worth a trial. 
 
 Of the well-known Whatman papers, both the “Hot- 
 pressed” and “Not,” the latter being, perhaps, prefer- 
 able. 
 
 A French paper, Allonge, has a very pleasing surface 
 grain, and may be used on the right or wrong side with 
 different results; the right side being the rougher, and 
 perhaps the better. 
 
•' i Vj'-' .. .< 
 
 *>■ . 
 
 ataffttaraw 
 
 
 . ■ - : 
 
 » v:'-~. .. . . . ■■■ 
 
 ••• 
 
 : r'A- 
 
 
 
 „ » ;*« &&» • '•*»$ 
 
 •-**,f<W<6! 
 
 MoilSiaboo • 
 
 Cavil C' 
 
 -Tom ^ea.r 
 
 CRAYON DRAWING ON ALLONGE PAPER. 
 Small i whites in Chinese white. ( Original q x 6 
 
lob 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILIA 'STB A LION. 
 
 Next, we have Lalanne and Michallet or Ingres papers, 
 and some examples of crayon drawing on these are here 
 given. 
 
 The most noticeable feature in these will be the lines, 
 or grain, formed by the texture of the paper; this grain 
 is apparently more perceptible when vertical, but if the 
 
 CRAYON ON PYRAMID PAPER NO. 2. 
 
 Small whites in Chinese white. ( Original 7 x 6 .) 
 
 paper is turned round so that the lines come into a hori- 
 zontal position, they are much less discernible in the 
 finished sketch. 
 
 In many respects the effect of these papers is a good 
 deal similar to that gainedby using the white lined clay- 
 boards; the grain being, however, less mechanical. In 
 like manner the crayon sketch may be effectively helped 
 by the addition of pen and ink, or fine brush work. 
 
io8 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Scraping out, however, is not within its capabilities; 
 though Chinese white, if applied fairly solidly, may 
 successfully stop-out small lights or efface errors. 
 
 Other papers which may be attempted are Arnold’s 
 ■drawing papers, rough surface cartridge, various crayon 
 papers, &c. Such houses as Penrose & Co., Am well 
 Street, E. C\, London, or F. W. Devoe & C. T. Raynolds 
 •Co., of New York, would probably supply patterns and 
 information in this respect. 
 
 A paper known as Pyramid Grained paper has a granu- 
 lated surface, breaking the crayon marks into a succession 
 •of dots rather than broken lines, and often yields very 
 pleasing results; it is made in two varying degrees, No. 
 i having a grain of 15,000 “pyramids” to the square inch, 
 and No. 2, 9,000. 
 
 For a further variation in effect, a drawing may be ex- 
 ecuted in crayon or pencil on a fairly smooth paper pre- 
 viously pressed into close contact with any rough surface, 
 such as sandpaper or canvas. The unsized side of a 
 canvas for oil painting, or the cover of a book, will 
 answer the purpose; openness of work, and the amount 
 of ultimate reduction desirable, being depended upon 
 and controlled accordingly. 
 
 The following sketches, by Mr. C. J. Vine, on Michal- 
 let and Lallane papers (pp. in, 113, 115, 1 1 7 ), are pure 
 untouched crayon work, reproduced by zinc line etching, 
 so’ that these drawings may be safely entrusted to this 
 cheapest and least sympathetic process; though there 
 ■can be little doubt that the swelled gelatine would render 
 fuller^ justice to work of this class. 
 
m 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MECHANICAL AJ DSTO DR A UGHTSMA NS HIP — DR A W- 
 ING AND SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 
 
 HE various methods whereby illustrations may be 
 
 made for reproduction have now been reveiwed, if 
 
 not exhaustively, at least with sufficient completeness to 
 enable the reader to start making those actual experiments- 
 in practice without which the most exact description is 
 
 But thus far, with the exception of such cases in which 
 it is possible to use a photogram and reproduce it by 
 “half-tone” process, some ability to draw, some certain 
 amount of native artistry on the part of the student, has- 
 been taken for granted. 
 
 Now, while in wash drawings, crayon, or pencil sketches,, 
 “scrape” boards, and the like, there must be some 
 amount of instinctive artistic ability, not only to guide 
 the hand in execution but to govern taste, idea, and 
 selection; yet in simple line drawing with the pen, with- 
 out any art knowledge or technical ability, it may be pos- 
 sible to produce a perfectly reproducible drawing, fulfill- 
 ing in every way the essential duty of an illustration. 
 And if this be so, there is no reason why very many 
 more writers should not illustrate what they have to say r 
 making matters more intelligible and producing a more- 
 lasting impression. 
 
 useless. 
 
I IO 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 For the purpose we shall require a photogram to com- 
 mence with, and here is a use and an application of pho- 
 tography not always fully realised or appreciated. A man 
 may be possessed of considerable taste and judgment in 
 the selecting of a view, or particular aspect of a building, 
 and yet be utterly lacking in ability to put down on paper 
 •correctly what he sees; that is, he is not a good draughts- 
 man. No particular taste in selecting a position may be 
 needed, or possessed, and yet it may be desirable to 
 portray an object, or scene, and it is to such men that the 
 camera becomes so important as an indirect means to illus- 
 tration. Indirect because, as already pointed out, the re- 
 production of a photogram by half-tone process (the only 
 way of reproducing a photogram for type machine print- 
 ing) is attended with difficulties, and cannot always be 
 resorted to. The half-tone block is not suitable for the 
 most rapid printing in newspapers, &c. ; its results are not 
 all that could be wished; it is more expensive and takes 
 longer to make, apart from such other drawbacks pointed 
 out in an earlier chapter. Therefore it is desirable to see 
 how we can utilise a photogram so as to produce the 
 simpler, and often more acceptable, line block from it, 
 and do this by a more mechanical method than redraw- 
 ing, or copying from it. 
 
 Probably the first easy method that will suggest itself 
 will be to make a tracing from it on tracing paper, and 
 then with carbon paper transfer it to the desired 
 card, &c. 
 
 There is no objection to such a course, except that it is 
 not always attended with equal satisfaction. To begin 
 with, a photogram is often so dark in parts as to prevent 
 •our seeing many details through the tracing paper; also, 
 however careful, if we are tracing a face, the slight de- 
 viation in tracing over the outlines and features, which 
 is almost unavoidable, and further variations when after- 
 wards transferring, will often seriously interfere with the 
 likeness — presuming a likeness to be required. 
 
 An avoidance of error and saving of time may be 
 
112 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILL USTRA TION. 
 
 effected by making a fairly pale print and, having “fixed” 
 it, cover the back with the scribble of a blue pencil or 
 chalk. 
 
 We can now place this down upon the card board or 
 paper to be drawn upon, and carefully go over everything 
 that is to be drawn with a sharp hard point, which will 
 leave a blue outline sketch which can then be inked in, 
 and the blue need not be rubbed out afterwards as it will 
 not appear in reproduction. 
 
 In the same way the original photogram can be used 
 with a piece of blue carbon paper instead of chalking the 
 back of the print. No attempt should be made to draw 
 in all the details of a photogram, but only such salient 
 points as may be required for illustration. 
 
 Another method is as follows: — Make the photogram 
 in the ordinary way, but on “plain salted paper,” or 
 “Matt silver sensitised paper, ” which has been previously 
 prepared by immersion for a short while in a solution of 
 ammonium chlorate, ioo grains; gelatine, io grains; 
 water, io ounces. 
 
 The photogram is to be fixed and washed, toning being 
 unnecessary; when dry it can be drawn upon with a 
 “fixed" or indelible black ink, carefully putting in just 
 what parts are needed and disregarding the rest of the 
 picture. As soon as the ink is dry, the print is immersed 
 in a bath of mercury bichlorate and alcohol, when the 
 photogram will gradually disappear, leaving the black ink 
 lines on plain white paper. Nothing more is required 
 beyond mounting on card to fit it for reproduction. Of 
 course corrections can be made and stains, &c. , be re- 
 moved with Chinese white. Should it be desired to re- 
 store the bleached photogram, it can be done by immers- 
 ing in a weak solution of soda hyposulphite. 
 
 The foregoing method is one given by Mr. C. G. Harper 
 in his book “Drawing for Reproduction”; it appears, 
 however, needlessly elaborate, and I presume mercury 
 bichloride is intended and not bichlorate. Even with 
 care the photographic image is sometimes slow to get rid 
 

114 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 of, and will often refuse altogether to leave the clear 
 white blank we require. 
 
 A photographic print, however, on either albumenised 
 or “Matt” paper will certainly disappear utterly if sub- 
 jected to the following bath, for which formula I am in- 
 debted to Mr. E. J. Wall: — 
 
 Iodine 
 
 ... 1 
 
 grain 
 
 Iodide of Potassium . . . 
 
 ... 10 
 
 grains 
 
 Cyanide of Potassium 
 
 20 
 
 < i 
 
 Water 
 
 . . . 102 
 
 < < 
 
 This is a similar solution as is used to remove ink-stains 
 from linen, &c. 
 
 The print may also be bleached by sponging over with 
 the following preparation, recommended by W. Ethelbert 
 Henry: — 
 
 Saturated Solution Iodine in Alcohol . . . . . i part 
 
 “ “ Cyanide of Potassium in Water 2 parts 
 
 Water ... ... ... ... ... 2 “ 
 
 After which the print is to be washed well for a few 
 minutes. 
 
 Of course the reason for using a “fixed” ink in such 
 processes is obvious. 
 
 Yet another method on similar lines, but even simpler 
 in operation. A certain photographic printing paper 
 called “ Ferro-prussiate” paper gives, on exposure to 
 light, a blue image, and only requires washing in water 
 to “fix” or make it permanent. This blue print can now 
 be used for drawing upon, as in the previous instance, 
 only that the photographic image, being blue, does not 
 need to be bleached, and will not interfere with the re- 
 production of the black lines drawn upon it. 
 
 If for any reason it be desired to get rid of the blue 
 print, this can be bleached by immersion in water con- 
 taining a little common washing soda. 
 
n6 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Thus from a photogram of even the most elaborate 
 subject an absolutely correct drawing may be made fit for 
 reproduction without the illustrator having any knowl- 
 edge or skill as a draughtsman. 
 
 By placing the unskilled in such a position, photography 
 appears to have removed the last obstacle to the more 
 frequent use of appropriate illustration; and the ease 
 with which both pleasing and accurate outlines can be 
 made should render inexcusable the shamefully untruth- 
 ful “sketches” which every day appear in newspaper and 
 magazine. 
 
 The method of drawing on thin transfer paper with 
 transfer ink, and then placing the drawing direct on to a 
 zinc block, hardly needs to be referred to here. Such a 
 simple means of placing the image on the zinc and then 
 etching is necessarily of limited application, neither re- 
 duction nor enlargement is possible, and photography is 
 not employed; it is merely a mechanical etching of the 
 zinc in all parts not protected by the ink image, as trans- 
 ferred from the drawing in transfer ink, and is used for 
 very rapid and imperfect portraits, &c., in the commoner 
 class of newspaper work. 
 
 And now, whatever be the special characteristics and 
 advantages of the camera, it is by no means my intention 
 to advocate its use where even only a moderate amount 
 of native artistic ability exists; and, in all probability, 
 the possessor of such ability will more frequently prefer 
 to use his sketch-book than his camera — and this is as it 
 should be. There is always something of freshness about 
 a first original sketch, be it in whatsoever medium, a 
 quality which the most careful copy fails to repeat. 
 
 This brings us to consider whether it would not be well 
 to make our first impressions or sketches in such a manner 
 that they could be handed to the process worker right 
 away; and we shall then have to consider what medium 
 and what materials are suitable for “drawing from life.” 
 Certainly the ordinary pencil sketch, as taken from the 
 pocket sketch-book, would not do. In the first place such 
 
n8 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 sketches would rarely be vigorous enough, and whatever 
 vigour they possessed would be sadly diminished by rub- 
 bing and the pressure of the opposite page. 
 
 Very few have successfully drawn from life in pen and 
 ink. Some few well-known caricaturists and figure 
 draughtsmen do so, and attain success purely through 
 their splendid dash and spirit, but such things are forbid- 
 den the average man with whom the pen drawing is a 
 matter of delicate care. But there seems no reason why 
 the lithographic crayon on rough paper should not be 
 thus utilised, and slight “touchings-up” added afterwards. 
 In this way we might often have ready for immediate re- 
 production a sketch containing some of that spontaneous 
 feeling which is so noticeable when glancing through the 
 pages of an artist’s sketch-book. 
 
 I have noticed in some a very false idea existing with 
 regard to draughting in a picture with pencil before using 
 the pen and ink. Now I do not hesitate to say that the 
 careful sketching in of the subject in pencil is essential 
 to all except the genius, and I am not writing for the 
 genius, who knows more than I can tell him and can dis- 
 pense with what he does not know. There is nothing to 
 be ashamed of in drawing first in pencil; one might per- 
 haps be able to draw in quite as correctly with the pen, 
 but the advantage of a pencil outline as a guide is that it 
 gives more time and leisure thought for carefully consid- 
 ering the pen work before putting it in. By this course 
 there is less danger of confused hesitating lines. From 
 the first let the ink lines be clear, distinct, and black; no 
 “messing about, ” to quote Mr. Blackburn’s expressive 
 phrase; be decided as to the sort of shading you are going 
 to put in a certain place and put it there, once for all, 
 and don’t touch it again. Avoid, by constant self-re- 
 straint, over-elaboration or too much laboured detail; let 
 each part of the drawing be finished from the first, and 
 do not return to it and work on it over and over again. 
 And the first step to ensuring this precision will be by 
 carefully pencilling everything, indicat big only where 
 
 i 
 
A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 n 9 
 
 shading is to come. When the pen and ink drawing is 
 completed, carefully erase the pencil marks with bread 
 crumbs; do not use indiarubber, which will be sure to 
 abrade the surface, and probably break the continuity of 
 the ink lines. 
 
 As we become more conversant with the possibilities of 
 the zinco process, an intimacy which can only be brought 
 by an experience built up of experiments and failures, 
 we shall find it possible to sometimes leave in certain of 
 the pencilling (allowing, of course, for their coming up 
 as black as ink), but for the beginner such a practice is 
 not recommended, as it is nearly sure to end in disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 There are many interesting modifications of recognised 
 means which are possible to the experienced — especially 
 the production of what may be termed “mixed drawings, “ 
 either for reproduction in half-tone or line, drawings in 
 which in order to produce less ordinary effects, wash, 
 pen, and pencil are employed combinedly; but, by the 
 time my gentle reader has reached a stage when he may 
 advisedly attempt such excursions from the orthodox 
 path, he will have passed beyond the sphere of this book 
 and will be entitled to that liberty which art permits to 
 its practitioners. 
 
 In the meantime let me ask the student to repress for 
 a time his more lofty aspirations, and content himself 
 with patiently learning to produce — not a charming 
 sketch, a delightful drawing, but— a drawing in which 
 there is as much of artistic or pictorial merit as is com- 
 patible with the requirements of the process of reproduc- 
 tion. If you are drawing professedly for reproduction, 
 no blame can attach to you if you “bear in mind during 
 the production of your drawing the necessity of its mak- 
 ing a good block, with as little sacrifice of artistic quality 
 as may be.’’ 
 
 An exalted position as an art is not necessarily claimed 
 for drawing or painting for reproduction ; but how much 
 of that difficult-to-be-defined quality which we^call “artis- 
 
120 
 
 A HANDBOOK OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 tic” exists in it, depends not so much upon the method, 
 the means, or the application, as it does on those who 
 work at it and their motive. Apart from this, viewed 
 from the lowest aspect, its utility is beyond question, 
 and at the present time it is an application of fine art 
 showing the most vitality of any. 
 
 The books devoted to the subject which have already 
 been written, have perhaps given too much attention to 
 the actual processes of reproduction— they have not ap- 
 pealed to the illustrator; or else, while professing to be 
 books of instruction in practice, have dealt rather with 
 the theory of illustration and the comparison of styles. 
 It seemed to me there was need for a simple description 
 of methods for the enlightening of a beginner: an ele- 
 mentary guide; a first step; in short, a Handbook of 
 illustration. 
 
 
Higgins’ 
 American 
 | Drawing 
 
 Inks 
 
 (Blacks and Colors) 
 
 The Standard 
 
 LIQUID 
 DRAWING 
 INKS / 
 
 of the World 
 
 They are used and endorsed by the 
 leading Illustrators, Schools, Col- 
 leges and Institutes. Three-fourths 
 of the professional draughtsmen of 
 this country use no other drawing 
 ink. 
 
 The manufacturers have never so- 
 licited a single testimonial, yet the 
 merits of the inks have called 
 fosth endorsement from the most 
 
 famous and experienced users of drawing inks in various professions, real 
 masters of their arts. The following are a few commendations: 
 
 To. Pennell, the celebrated pen artist ot London, Eng. “There is no 
 ink equal to it for half a dozen reasons. Prom the time you open the bottle 
 until you have put all its contents on paper, you have no reason to find 
 
 fault with it.” . ^ „ . - T t tt o „ 
 
 A. B. Frost, the famous American illustrator, Convent, N. J., U. S. A. 
 — “1 use a great deal of it, and it is certainly the best.’ 
 
 E W. Senior. C. E., Sydney, Australia — “I ca-not refrain from letting 
 you know how I appreciate your ‘American Drawing Ink.’ It is an article 
 long been looked for bv us professional men. In my opinion, it is far supe- 
 rior to [Blank's] Liquid Indian Ink. 1 have been using it for iY years 
 now, and have during that time and up to the present ceased to have any 
 other brand in the office — so pleased am I with it.” 
 
 T. B. NORGATE, Patent Attorney, Victoria, B. C.— “I have used your 
 
 inks for some years and find them first-class.” 
 
 Jacob H auck. Draughtsman, Countv Surveyor’s Office, Omaha, Neb.— 
 “I have used hundreds of your ‘General Inks,’ and became a great admirer 
 of your unequalled ink.” 
 
 The Inks are as follows: BLACKS— Two kinds. Waterproof (insoluble 
 when dry) and General (solublel. Colors— C armine, Scarlet, Vermilion, 
 Brick Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Brown, Indigo, Violet. 
 
 Prices— Small bottles, 25 cents each; half pints, $2 each; pints, $3.75 
 each, and quarts, $7 each. . ... 
 
 Users are cautioned to refuse untried and experimental inks, which 
 may be claimed as being equal to the Higgins Inks. Higgins’ American 
 Drawing Inks were first introduced in i88r>, and have hence stood the test of 
 time unfailingly. Every bottle is strictly guaranteed from first to last by 
 the manufacturers. Color cards showing actual inks sent free 
 
 FOR SALE BY DEALERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD 
 
 CHAS. M. HIGGINS & CO., 
 
 Originators and Manufacturers Inks and Adhesives, 
 
 108 to 172 Eighth Street, Brooklyn, N. Y„ U. S. A. 
 
 London Office, 106 Charing Cross Road. 
 
 
The Folding Montauk 
 
 13 THE 
 
 "Ideal" Artists’ Camera 
 
 It is fitted with a perfect lens for in or outdoor, snapshot or 
 time exposures, and when examined and tested will show its 
 superiority at once. 
 
 When fitted with Ross Patent London-Made Lenses they 
 are perfection itself, and will make perfect snapshots 
 
 ‘ ON A GRAY DAY” 
 
 PRICES FROM $25 TO $150 
 Send for catalogue and full description to the maker 
 
 Q. GENNERT.i^ 
 
 24 and 26 East 13th St. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
||VHOTOGR A PH Y applied to the deco- 
 11^ ration of China, Porcelain, Placques, 
 Art Pottery and Ceramic and Metallic 
 Surfaces in general. 
 
 ILUJSTRATEP...... 
 
 Prices Pmpm r p CSotlbp 
 
 POST PAID, FIVE CENTS EXTRA 
 
 G. GENNERT, PUBLISHER 
 
 24 & 26 East 13th St. NEW YORK 
 
BY GEORGE FRITZ 
 
 VICE-DIRECTOR OF THE COURT AND IMPERIAL SPATE 
 PRINTING WORKS AT VIENNA 
 
 TRANSLATED BY E. J. WALL 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
 
 CONTAINING SIX FULL PAGE PLATES BY THE IMPERIAL 
 STATE PRINTING WORKS AT VIENNA 
 
 XT HIS book treats of the preparation of 
 Collodions, etc., for Negative work, 
 preparation of stones and of Zinc plates and 
 the making of drawings for Photo-Litho- 
 graphic work, and includes special detailed 
 instructions for the various materials used, 
 diagrams illustrating the best studios and 
 work rooms, etc. 
 
 G. GENNERT, PUBLISHER 
 
 24 & 26 East 13th St. NEW YORK 
 
CHAMPION CARD 
 AND PAPER CO. ^ 
 
 EAST PEPPERELL, MASS. 
 
 MANUFACTURERS OK 
 
 SURFACE-COATED 
 PAPERS .... 
 PLAIN AND 
 COATED BLANKS 
 FOR PRINTERS 
 & LITHOGRAPHERS 
 
 ••THIS BOOK IS PRINTED ON 
 OUR COATED PAPER 
 
Hume’s 
 
 CANTILEVER 
 
 ENLARGING 
 
 APPARATUS 
 
 5 Y* in. Condensers, for 3^x4^ plate, without objec- 
 tive, $35; with objective, $45. 
 
 8# in. Condensers, for 5x7 plate, without objective, 
 $60; with objective, $80. 
 
 Fine Screw Motion, for use with non-racking lenses.' 
 Price for all sizes, $5. 
 
 Goods Tested Thoroughly and Packed Free 
 
 G. GENNERT 
 
 Sole American Agent 
 
 24 and 26 East 13th St. NEW YORK 
 
Adams .i 
 
 “BR1LL13HI” VIEW F1KDERS 
 
 A perfect, bright and distinct image in direct sunlight, 
 or in a room where objects are hardly discernible on 
 the ground glass. 
 
 STYLE No. 1 , FOR REGULAR CAMERAS 
 STYLE No. 2 , FOR DETECTIVE CAMERAS 
 
 J. A. LEONARD, 
 
 Civil Engineer. NEWBURGH, N. Y., Oct. 2, l8 9 5- 
 
 The “Adams” Finder received this A. M., and I want to thank 
 you for putting me in the way of getting such a perfect instru- 
 ment. While the price seemed high, the results are so far 
 beyond anything that I deemed possible, that I am more than 
 satisfied. I find that in the brightest sunlight the Finder gives 
 a beautiful, clear and brilliant image, without any necessity of 
 shading. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 (Signed) J. A. LEONARD. 
 
 Adams Brilliant Finders 
 
 Style No. i. Size No. i, $4-5° Size No. 2, $5. 50 Size No. 3, $6. 50 
 Style No. 2. Size No. 1, 3. 50 Size No. 2, 4.50 Size No. 3, 5.50 
 
 G. GENNERT, Sole Agent 
 
 24 and 26 East 13th Street, NEW YORK 
 
THE “GENNERT” 
 
 “UNIVERSAL” 
 
 Hard Rubber Fixin Box 
 
 I he “Gennert’ Universal Fixing Box is a decided improvement over 
 the well-known “Gennert” Hard Rubber Bath. The 
 
 is a substantial box with cover, made entirely of hard rubber, and has the 
 following advantages over all other methods of fixing: It has ridges on all 
 four sides, thus allowing any size plate to be fitted (see cut No. 2). The 
 plate stands half an inch above the ridges, allowing the operator to re- 
 move it without touching the film, as the top of the box above the ridges 
 flares out sufficiently to admit the fingers to reach the side of the plate. 
 It fixes more plates. The cover prevents dust and light from entering the 
 box. The hypo is always clean and fresh. All impurities sink to the bot- 
 tom and the plate cannot touch them. It saves plates. No spots possible 
 on your negatives. , It saves spotting and retouching. It saves your 
 temper. 
 
 The “Gennert” Universal Fixing Box 
 
 is made in two sizes: No. 1 allows of twenty 3^x4^, 4 %'x5><!' or 4 or 
 eleven t^x8 'A plates being fixed at one time: price, $4.50. No. 2 allows of 
 twenty-two 4x5, 5x7 or 5x8, or eleven 8x10 plates being fixed atone time- 
 price, $ 5 oo. 
 
 Buv a “Gennert” Universal Fixing Box, made of pure hard rubber 
 and save your hypo, plates and temper, by sending an order to your dealer 
 for a Universal. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Gennert” Universal Fixing Box 
 
 G. GENNERT, Manufacturer 
 
 24=26 East 13th Street 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
' CARBUTTS 
 
 \Hal[ - Tone Irocess Plates 
 
 I Specially made -for PhotcrEtchers 
 
 V /on Copper, Brass or Zinc, 
 
 ' JOHM^CflW^LJTJ „ 3 ,V,n <9 rie 3 at,VeS e< * U - SLl f n0t 
 
 MflMUFflCTURER OF 
 
 Dry Plates, Films Superior to — t — - 
 
 PHOTO(?RflPHIC ,r,D SPECIflLTIE5 ‘ " ,'4r U ~j” . 
 
 wAYrtt jyncTiofl ; ’ 'Wet uoilodinii 1 lates, 
 
 • PHILRQELPHIA.. 
 
 PRICE LIST— Plain, Orthochromatic and Strippers 
 
 Sizes 
 
 
 Per Doz. 
 
 Plain 
 or Ortho. 
 
 Per Doz. 
 Strippers. 
 
 No. of 
 Doz. 
 in Case. 
 
 Sizes. 
 
 Per Doz. 
 
 Plain 
 or Ortho. 
 
 Per Doz. 
 Strippers. 
 
 No. of 
 Doz. 
 in Case. 
 
 3 z 4 
 
 X 
 
 4 4 
 
 $° 45 
 
 $0 70 
 
 36 
 
 f>Yi 
 
 X 84 
 
 $1 65 
 
 $2 20 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 X 
 
 5 
 
 0 65 
 
 O 90 
 
 36 
 
 8 
 
 X IO 
 
 2 40 
 
 3 20 
 
 
 4^ 
 
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 6 111 
 
 I OO 
 
 1 25 
 
 24 
 
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 3 80 
 
 5 00 
 
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 5 
 
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 7 
 
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 24 
 
 II 
 
 x 14 
 
 5 00 
 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 X 
 
 8 
 
 r 25 
 
 I 65 
 
 24 
 
 14 
 
 x 17 
 
 g 00 
 
 12 OO 
 
 
 CARBUTT’S FLUID STRIPPING HUDIUH 
 
 Which has been arrived at after a series of exhaustive experiments, is destined to entirely 
 supersede the oid gelatiue processes. It is supplied already prepared from the factory. It 
 is applied cold, sets and dries quickly, forming a pellicle negative, thin , tough and flexible , 
 and may be printed from either side. Full particulars for use accompany each package. 
 Price: Pint bottles, 75c.; quart bottles, $1.35; per gallon, §5. 
 
 Testimonial 
 
 “We have been in the photo-engraving business over three years. Used wet-plates for 
 two years, and your process-plates for the last year on half-tone work. Each lot seemed 
 uniform with the others and worked well. Have not had a wet-plate bath in the place, even 
 for line work (or half-tone either), for over a year, and have turned outiustas good half- 
 tone work as can be done, so our customers say. It is as good as we could ever get with wet 
 plates.”— H .. . Eng. Co., per G. C. A. 
 
 WRITE TO FACTORY FOR CIRCULARS 
 
 JOHN CARBUTT, 
 
 Wayne Junction, Philadelphia 
 
 KEYSTONE F»RY PLATE AND 
 FILM WORKS 
 
Winsor & Newton’s 
 
 W^TEW00K I]MK 
 
 With Patent Stopper and Quill Feeder 
 
 This new Preparation 
 has been introduced to 
 meet the requirements of 
 those Artists, Architects 
 and Designers who wish 
 to lay washes of color 
 over drawings in ink. 
 
 Unlike many so-called 
 “Indelible'’ Inks, Messrs. 
 V* insor & Newton’sWater- 
 Proof Indian ink, after it 
 has dried, wiil be found 
 absolutely unaffected by 
 subsequent wetting. The 
 lines ot the drawing, from 
 the thickest to the thin- 
 nest, remain undisturbed, 
 and the purity of the most 
 delicate color-wash is re- 
 tained in an unsullied con- 
 dition. 
 
 Finally, it may be men- 
 tioned that Messrs. Win- 
 sor and Newton’s prepa- 
 ration is made from gen- 
 uine Indian Ink, and not, 
 as is frequently the case, 
 from an imitative article. 
 
 Winsor and Newton’s 
 Waterproof Ink is made in 
 2i different colors. Sample 
 card on application. 
 
 WINSOR & NEWTON, Limited 
 
 88 Fulton Street Rathbone Place 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON. 
 
PROCESS ILLUSTRATIOII 
 
 PRACTICAL MATERIALS 
 
 FOR 
 
 PRACTICAL WORKERS 
 
 ANGERER SCRAPER BOARDS 
 
 EIGHT VARIETIES. Sample Packet , is. bd. 
 
 ANGERER LITHOGRAPHIC GRAINED PAPERS 
 
 FOUR VARIETIES. Sample Packet , bd. 
 
 GILLOT SCRAPER BOARDS 
 
 EIGHT VARIETIES. Sample Packet , is. 2d. 
 
 PENROSE’S NEW STIPPLE BOARDS 
 
 Imitating the Lithographic Hand Stipple 
 
 TWO KINDS. Sample Packet , bd- 
 
 GOODALL’S BRISTOL BOARDS 
 
 LITHOGRAPHIC TRANSFER PAPERS 
 
 TRACING TRANSFER PAPERS 
 
 LEMERCIER’S INKS and CRAYONS 
 
 Oillott’s Pens. Fine Sable Brushes 
 
 T Squares, Set Squares. Tracing Points, Ruling Pens. 
 Magnifying and Diminishing Glasses 
 
 All Materials, Tools, Chemicals, and Appliances for 
 every Branch of Photo-mechanical Reproduction 
 Catalogue , Sixpence, Post-free 
 
 PENROSE & CO. 
 
 The Photo Process Stores 
 
 8a, UPPER BAKER ST., Clerkenwell, LONDON 
 
F J JEW & G J JYjn (I 
 
 MANUFACTURERS OF 
 
 Artists’ Materials 
 
 PEf?JVmr4EflT 
 
 ICHINESE WHITE 
 
 MANUFACTURED BY 
 
 £ WDEVoB RCs. 
 
 MEWYORK. 
 
 SUPPLIES FOR 
 
 Oil and Water 
 
 Color Painting 
 
 Pastel and 
 
 Miniature Painting 
 Charcoal, Crayon and 
 
 Lead Pencil Drawing 
 Etching, Ornamenting 
 
 and Designing 
 
 Materials for 
 
 Tapestry Painting 
 Pyrography and 
 
 China Painting 
 
 flaterials for Pen and Ink Drawing 
 
 A Specialty 
 
 Liquid Inks, Crow Quill Pens, Process Papers, 
 
 Roulettes, F. W. Devoe & Co.’s Superior Liquid 
 Chinese White and Indian Ink, “ Pen and Ink 
 Carton,” “ Bank Note Bristol,” best for Black 
 and White Work, “ Scratch Board, etc., etc. 
 
 A Complete Line of Ross s Hand Stipple Process Papers at 
 Wholesale and Retail 
 
 Fulton and William Streets, New York, 
 
 and 176 Randolph Street, Chicago 
 
GENNERT 
 
 Hard Rubber 
 
 Photographers’ 
 
 DEVELOPING 
 and 
 
 FIXING DISHES 
 
 The Standard of Excellence 
 
 Each Piece Marked 
 
 “GENNERT” 
 
 iTanufacturer, New York 
 
A. B. Fleming & Co. 
 
 (LIMITED) 
 
 Scottish Printing Ink JVtapufactorg 
 
 Caroline Park, EDINBURGH 
 
 Warehouse; I Fine Color Department: 
 
 15 Whitefriars St., London, E.C. | 101 Leadenhall St., London, E.C 
 
 Manufacturers of Every Kind of Black and Colored Inks 
 
 IN BLACK AND ART SHADES A SPECIALTY 
 
 (Any Shade Made to Order) 
 
 Our Half-Tone Inks will not fill up, do not contain 
 Earth-Colors, and are permanent 
 
 NMiitic PriniiRg in Tip colors 
 
 THE THREE NEUTRAL COLORS 
 
 (Red, Blue and Yellow) 
 
 SPECIALLY PREPARED AND GUARANTEED ABSOLUTELY PERMANENT 
 
 Shades Verified by Lovibond's Patent Tintometer 
 
 HIGH-CLASS COLLOTYPE INKS 
 
 OF ALL SHADES 
 
Patented 1881-89 and Patent applied for 
 
 The Brighton is the first 
 desired step forward in 
 view cameras for several 
 years, and can justly be 
 called perfect, as it has all 
 the features so highly 
 prized by Artists and View 
 Photographers, and is also 
 adapted for Studio use of 
 the amateur or artist. 
 
 1st. It is a Front Focus 
 Camera. 
 
 2d. It is a Back Focus 
 Camera as well. 
 
 3d, It has more swing 
 than any other Camera. 
 
 4th. It has a self-center- 
 ing, rising and falling 
 front. 
 
 5th. It has Rack and Pin- 
 ion (forward) and slide 
 (backward) movement. 
 
 6th. It has a new front 
 board feature, and an ex- 
 tra large front board. 
 
 7th. It can be usei with 
 an extremely short or 
 long focus lens and no lens 
 is so wide in its angle that 
 it can take in any part of the bed. 
 8th. While no Camera is more rigid when the back clamp is set, it can be 
 taken entirely 
 apart by rever- 
 sing the tight- 
 ening 1 eve r. 
 
 gth. It has an 
 im prov cment 
 which allows 
 the bed to be 
 be raised with- 
 out the screw 
 catching. 
 
 10th. I t can be 
 set up and 
 taken down 
 quicker and 
 easier than any 
 Camera. 
 
 Add to this 
 absolutely per- 
 fect workman- 
 ship, materials 
 and finish, and 
 you have the 
 Brighton Cam- 
 era, the Twen- 
 tieth Century 
 product. 
 
 AS A BACK FOCUS. 
 
 Prick Btst. — Leather Bellows, Double Swing, including one "Xtralite” 
 Plate Holder and Carrying Case, 5x7, $24.00; 5x8, $26.00; $28.00; 
 
 8x10, $30.00; 11x14, $40.00; 14x17, $60.00. 
 
 G. GENNERT, Manufacturer 
 
 24 & 26 East 13th Street, 
 
 NEW YORK 
 

 ROSS LENSES 
 
 ROSS ZEISS ANA8TIGMATS 
 ROSS-GOERZ 
 DOUBLE ANASTIGMATS 
 
 The Best Photographic Objectives for 
 ail purposes. Several series especially 
 adapted to Reproductions. 
 
 Catalogue © 
 
 © I eats ©ifi) © t© 
 
 G. GENNERT 
 
 Sole American Agent 
 
 24 & 26 East i 3 th Street, NEW YORK 
 
 
There are 
 
 WBSHIP BOXES up BOIES 
 
 That are Supposed to Wash, But Don’t Do It 
 
 No. i Holds 22 Plates 3% x 4% or 4% x 6 ) 4 — n Plates 6)4 x 8^. Price, $2.00. 
 No. 2 Holds 22 Plates 4 x 5, 5 x 7, or 5 x 8— 11 Plates 8 x 10. Price, $2. 2c. 
 
 G. GENNERT, Sole Mfr., 
 
 24 and 26 East i3th St. - - NEW YORK 
 
“The NEW YORK PHOTOGRAVURE CO., at 137 West 
 23d Street, makes perfect pictures for artistic, scientific and 
 commercial purposes, by special, inimitable photogravure, pho- 
 togelatine, and half-tone block processes. It has a gallery 
 fitted to produce negatives of all sizes up to 24x30, by the best 
 orthochromatic methods. From this department to the packing 
 room, there is not a phase of any work, however trivial appar- 
 ently, not carefully attended with the most zealous super- 
 vision.'' 
 
 From King’s Handbook of New York City 
 
 Photographs in Colors 
 
 “ Mr. Edwards spoke from the small stage at the end of the 
 exhibition hall, and after an interesting resume of the many 
 ‘ processes ’ by which pictures and illustrations are now made 
 with the aid of photography, the most important of which he 
 explained in lucid and not too technical phraseology, he ap- 
 proached the most interesting part of his discourse, the modern 
 method of three-color printing, which has, under the New York 
 Photogravure Company, reached so high a state of perfection 
 and resulted in such surprisingly attractive results.” 
 
 From the Mail and Express, New York 
 
 “ SUN AND SHADE reproduces, not only the most notable 
 paintings and portraits, but the best work of amateur and pro- 
 fessional photographers. If it gave nothing but the latter work, 
 it would be deserving of the most liberal patronage that it re- 
 ceives ; but if is an admirable record of the greatest paintings 
 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of living American players, 
 of portraits of celebrated Americans, of great American painters, 
 with reproductions of their work, and it is a monument of the 
 New York Photogravure Co., which is a monument of artistic 
 New York.”