1118
appearing in newspaper and similar publications in the
1880s–1890s. The practical commercial application of
halftone to photolithography was not so swift. Today,
halftone photolithography is a dominant form of com-
mercial printing.
David Rudd Cycleback
Further Reading
Curwen, Harold, The Process of Graphic Reproduction in Print-
ing, London, 1966.
Gascoigne, Bamber, How to Identify Prints, New York, New York:
Thames and Hudson, 1986.
Griffi ths, Antony, Prints and Printmaking: An introduction to
the history and techniques, Berkely, California, University
of California Press, 1996.
Newton, Charles, Photography in Printmaking, London, Victoria
and Albert Museum, 1979.
PHOTOMECHANICAL: MINOR
PROCESSES
The nineteenth century produced a great many photome-
chanical inventions that never became very successful.
There were many reasons for this. The processes had
to be practicable and they had to offer advantages over
competing technologies, such as speed of operation and
reduced cost. New processes could takes years of de-
velopment at great expense and working conditions did
not allow any signifi cant control on important variables
such as air temperature, humidity and levels of sunlight.
The period literature is fi lled with comments to the effect
that certain processes that made use of gelatin coatings
“worked better on the Continent than in England,” on
account of the dryer weather. Technical manuals often
described changes in chemical formulas based on the
season, e.g., “during the winter months, a fi ve percent
solution of bichromate is recommended while two per-
cent will suffi ce in the summer months.”
There were also human factors such as a tendency for
employees to resist changes that would have threatened
their job security.
Etched Daguerreotype
Within weeks of Daguerre’s announcement (1839) ex-
perimenters were trying to convert the daguerreotype
image into a printing plate suitable for intaglio printing.
The daguerreotype picture is produced by the deposit
of mercurial vapor which combines with the silver and
the polished surface of the silver surface itself. As the
electro-chemical relations of these two metals are dis-
similar, it was thought that the daguerreotype plate
could be etched by the agency of the voltaic battery.
Dr. Berres of Vienna, Fizeau in France, and Grove in
England, succeeded either by direct chemical action, or
by electro-chemical processes in engraving these plates,
and in many examples the details were preserved “in a
very charming manner.” Claudet was very successful in
engraving the daguerreotype picture by a modifi cation of
the process by Fizeau. The latter gilded the daguerreo-
type image, and then etched the parts not covered by the
gold, which acted as a resist. The diffi culty of biting the
daguerreotype plate image to a suffi cient depth to obtain
the requisite ink-holding grain soon led to abandonment
of the method.
Nevertheless, a number of publications were produced
by this form of etched daguerreotype. The fi rst one was
by Joseph Berres of Vienna, Phototyp nach der Erfi ndung
des Prof. Berres in Wien, (Vienna, 1840), illustrated with
5 plates from daguerreotypes, etched with nitric acid. Also
of note are the Excursions Daguerriennes, représentant
les vues et les monuments anciens et modernes les plus
remarquables du Globe, (Paris, 1840–1843) in which
three of the 111 plates were printed directly from da-
guerreotype plates by the Fizeau process.
Dallastype
This was a process for making relief blocks for typo-
graphic printing. It was probably the most successful in-
vention of Duncan Campbell Dallas, who made half-tone
blocks, and used a ruled screen instead of, or sometimes
in combination with, his dallastint reticulated grain. The
blocks were made of type metal, evidently cast in plaster
molds taken from the gelatin relief. Dallas presented an
example of his work to the Photographic News in 1864,
calling it “dallastype.” Dallas, however, appears to have
changed the names of his processes as time went on.
Dallas advertised dallastype, dallastint and chromo-
dallastint in W.T. Wilkinson’s Photoengraving (ca.
1888–1890), but the only one that seems to have been
used in books to any extent was dallastype. Some of the
illustrations in Robert Dickson’s Introduction of Printing
into Scotland, 1885, were dallastypes. They were also
used in Dickson & Edmond’s Annals of Scottish Print-
ing, published by Macmillan & Bowes in 1890. Pulls
from some of the blocks in the latter book were given
to William Blades by Dallas and are now in a scrapbook
in St. Bride’s printing library, London.
Expresstypie
A process for making grained half-tone blocks, invented
by Cronenberg, ca. 1895. It used a grained screen,
placed in contact with a gelatin dry plate, to make a
grained negative. This was printed onto zinc or copper
in the usual way. The grain had a reticulated character
resembling that of collotype.
Goupil Gravure
Invented by Rousselon in France (ca. 1874) who de-
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
