404
GOLD PRINTING BY DE LA RUE, &c.— PRINTING IN FRAXCE.
[Class XVII
of the extraordinary felicity of their execution/’ Themethod adopted by Mr. Whittaker is the following, forwhich the Jury is indebted to the kindness of Mr. JohnHarris (Class XXX., No. *244), who was employed on thework. The page is composed in moveable type in theusual way ; a stereotype-plate is taken. A piece of ironof the size of the page, about half-an-inch in thickness, ismade hot, and placed on the table of an ordinary typo-graphical printing-press: the stereotype-plate is thenplaced on the iron plate, and gets hot, and leaf-gold of anextra thickness, of the size of the plate, is laid very care-fully on the surface of the plate; then the paper or vellumis placed on the tympan in the usual way, having beenpreviously sifted over with dried glare of egg and rosinfinely pulverized, which adheres to it in sufficient quan-tity ; the tympan is then turned down, and the pull dwelton. The degree of heat must be ascertained by practice;if the plate be too hot, the gold is dead and drossy: iftoo cold, then it appears bright but imperfect. This pro-cess is similar to that now used by bookbinders in blockgilding with an arming-press.
About twenty years ago, M.Sturz introduced into Eng-land printing in gold from copper-plates. His processwas to mix with printers* weak burnt oil a certainquantity of gold or silver bronze, to the same consistencyas that of strong copper-plate ink, and filling the platewith it, to dab it in with the fingers. The plate had tobe engraved deeper than usual, and when filled it wasdelicately cleaned off, first with a rag dipped in a veryweak solution of pearlash, and then with the palm of thehand in the usual way. It was afterwards submitted to aheavy impression of the copper-plate press, being printedin the manner called “ through press,” and the impression,when dry, polished by passing it through the pressseveral times with the printed face against a highly-polished steel plate, by which a beautiful brightness wasimparted to the bronze. This process, decidedly the bestwhere great perfection is required, has been abandoned bymost of the copper-plate printers for the cheap and lesstedious one of first printing with a coloured-ink grouudwith gold-size and oil, and then rubbing the bronze onthe paper when just printed.
Printing in gold by letter-press soon followed themethod of copper-plate gold printing. Messrs. YizetellyandBranston were the first to apply it; and their visitingand address cards, printed by letter-press, from rose-engine plates, have never been surpassed for the bright-ness and beauty of their execution.
About the same period Mr. De La Rue, in conjunctionwith the late Mr. Balne, of Gracechurch Street, produceda large royal 8vo edition of the New Testament , printedin gold, twenty-five copies of which were in pure goldpowder. Nothing has since been produced equal to thisunique edition. At the coronation of Queen Victoria , Mr.De La Rue undertook to produce the “ Sun ” newspaperprinted in gold. The rapidity with which this had to beeffected was one of the many difficulties he had to en-counter. Messrs. Clowes and Sons afforded him every aidby placing at his disposal the printing-machines of theirextensive establishment. Upwards of one hundred per-sons were employed to rub the bronze on the printedsheets, which had* to be brought from the printing-officein Stamford Street, as soon as printed, to Messrs. De LaRue’s works in Bunhill Row, to he there bronzed andfinished. More than 100,000 copies were thus produced;10,000 iu time for the publication of the “ Sun” on coro-nation da)'.
Gold printing is now applied to numerous purposes inmost countries. The following is the best method ofproducing good and bright results by letter-press printing.Take the best printer’s varnish, grind it to a thickconsistency with the best burnt sienna or brown umber,and reduce this with De La Rue’s gold-size until it be ofthe thickness of thin treacle; ink the form in the usualmanner, and when printed apply the bronze by rubbingit gently over the article with cotton wool. If leaf-goldor leaf-metal is required, it must be laid on carefully, andwhen dry the sheets should be wiped, to clear them ofthe superfluous bronze or metal. The gold printing is :much improved by its being passed over polished steel”plates, between powerful rollers.
: The following exhibitors of printing in gold and silver
bronze, and in metal, displayed a variety of specimens, allpossessing merit.
England —Mr. J. Mansell (p. 539), Mr. Kroniieim(p. 549), Messrs. Dean and Son (p. 537), and also Messrs.Arliss and Co. (p. 541), who had specimens of printingon tinfoil. France —M. Angrand (pp. 11G9, 1170),M. Gl’ksnu (p. 1188), Madame Mayer, Rue de la VieilleMonnaie (p. 1207), M. Meyer, Ruede l’Abbaye (p. 1208),and M. Lefkbvrk, of Paris (p. 1311). Zollverein —MM. Schaffer, Otto, and Scheibe (p. 1058), M. E.Maniac, M. IIaknkl, of Berlin (p. 10G5), M. F. Fech-xer, of Guben (p. 10G3). Bavaria —M. A. Dessal'er,of Asehaffenburg (p. 1101). Grand Duchy of I Jesse —M.Freund, of Offenbach (p. 1128). ID/nsr/ic—MM. Fetterand Rahn (p. 1375). Austria— MM. Haas and Son, ofPrague (p. 1028), who had a missal printed in gold, aswell as a miscellaneous collection of articles.
As early as 1470, printing was introduced into Paris bythe influence of La Sorbonne ; its progress was rapid.Rembold, the partner of Gering, Antoine Verard, Simonde Colines , Pigouchet, and others, carried the art ofprinting to a high degree of perfection. The typo-graphical merit of the publications of Robert and. of| Henry Stephens would itself be very remarkable in all. respects were it not surpassed by the high literary meritj of those learned printers.
| The Camuzats, the Delatours, the Cousteliers, and theBarbous, maintained the good traditions of the ancientI printers; and towards the end of the last century Am-; broise Didot was intrusted by Louis XVI . with the■ printing of the collection of the French Classics, calledi the Dauphin Collection. From the united labour of! Pierre Didot and Firmin Didot , who were at the same1 time engravers, type-founders, and printers, subsequently! resulted the beautiful publications at the national palacej of the Louvre. They introduced many improvements; into the typographic art. By their side and in their esta-i blishment youthful typographers were instructed, who1 have carried the taste for their art into tlxe provinces andj into foreign lands.
Now, however, in most countries, by the effect of com-; petition carried to its utmost limits, the distinctive, ori-; ginal, and personal characteristic of the ancient typo-| graphers is becoming gradually effaced. The system ofI the division of labour does not permit them now, as for-; merly, to cut and cast the type themselves, to make theiri own ink, to superintend the construction of their presses,
! or even to take the balls from the hands of the pressmen,to show them how they should he used; to a knowledgej of these technicalities many of the ancient printers unitedI extensive literary acquirements.
At the present day competition compels every one toconcentrate all his efforts and all his aptitude upon oneonly of the branches which combine to form the art of; typography. The engraver is merely an engraver; thetype-founder is only engaged in that branch; so it is withthe ink-maker and the manufacturer of printers’ rollers,
: with the bookseller and the publisher, and of necessity! even more so with the printer, who can only succeed inj this laborious and difficult profession by dint of being1 above all a skilful manager. In many printing establish-; ments, therefore, there are often two partners; one ofthem occupied with the technical details of the art, theother with the commercial or administrative department.To this arrangement, and to this extreme division oflabour, must be attributed a certain uniformity which isto be observed in the productions of modern typography,and perhaps also an absence of originality. It must,nevertheless, be stated, that in general, and even as aconsequence of this concentration of efforts upon everysingle branch of the art, the results are satisfactory.
The National Printing-office of France was foundedin 1640 by Louis XIII. , who there collected the punchescut by Garamond by order of Francis 1. , and confidedthese punches to the most eminent printers of his time,who were honoured with the title of Boyal Printers.Under the preceding reigns this printing-office had dis-