103
otype to Sydney,” The Daguerreian Annual 1995, Pittsburgh:
The Daguerreian Society, 1995, 51–57.AUTOTYPE FINE ART COMPANY
The Autotype Fine Art Company began life in 1868 as
the Autotype Printing and Publishing Company, with a
factory in Brixton and offi ces at 5 Haymarket in Lon-
don. From its inception to the present day the company
has been involved in a variety of methods of producing
images and imaging materials. For almost a hundred
years, however, it was best known for its exploitation
of Joseph Wilson Swan’s Carbon Process, a method of
producing prints in permanent pigments.
Swan patented his process in England in 1864 (No
503) and originally worked the process commercially
himself. In 1868 he sold the English rights to a chem-
ist, John Richard Johnson, and a photographer, Ernest
Edwards, both of London. The same year, the rights were
in turn acquired by the newly formed Autotype Printing
and Publishing Company, with Johnson and Edwards
becoming major shareholders. The name Autotype had
been devised before the company existed, possibly as
early as 1864. It was proposed by art critic and one
time editor of Punch, Tom Taylor, and derived from two
Greek words, ‘autos’ meaning self, and ‘tupos’ meaning
stamp, as in the impress of a seal.
The merits of the carbon process, rich tonal range
and, particularly, its permanence soon commended
itself to other photographic entrepreneurs. Almost im-
mediately, rivals announced a series of doubtful ‘im-
provements’ to the process and the company was forced
to assert its patent rights. The company successfully
defended its position, either in court or by buying out
the opposition. Under the company’s umbrella, Johnson
was also working on improvements to Swan’s original
process and new patents were fi led in February 1869
and January 1870.
Despite its early problems, the company success-
fully developed the business of supplying carbon print-
ing materials as well as making carbon prints for the
photographic trade and to sell directly to the public. In
1870, the London offi ce was transferred to 36 Rathbone
Place, next door to the artists’ suppliers, Windsor &
Newton. The factory was also moved from the original
site in Brixton to new premises in what was then a rural
location at Ealing. In order to raise further capital, the
company was refl oated and now called the Autotype
Fine Art Company Limited.
During the next few years, the company underwent a
period of rapid expansion and diversifi cation. In 1871 a
photo-collographic printing department was added to the
Ealing factory under the management of J.R.M. Sawyer
and W.S. Bird. It also acquired the expertise of J.A.
Spencer by amalgamating with his independent carbon
printing business. Other rival concerns were acquired
in similar fashion, A further reorganisation took place
in 1873 when Spencer, Sawyer and Bird, purchased all
patents, property and stock to form a new fi rm, Spencer,
Sawyer, Bird and Co. The Autotype Fine Art Company
continued as a separate concern dealing with the fi ne art
business until the end of 1875 when it was purchased by
Spencer, Sawyer, Bird and Co. The new joint concern
now became simply The Autotype Company.
By the latter half of the 1870s, the Autotype Fine
Art Company had become a prosperous and thriving
concern with world wide interests. It was rapidly gaining
a reputation for high quality carbon print reproductions
of fi ne art and photographs. In the sixth edition of his
manual, The Autotype Process (1877), Sawyer claims
that the publication forms the basis of manuals in fi ve
languages and that galleries throughout Europe as well
as “...our own splendid collections at the British and
South Kensington Museums have yielded copies of their
pictures.” Advertisements at the back of the book give
further insights into the market for Autotype reproduc-
tions. The company’s catalogue included copies of
works by Reynolds, Turner and Michael Angelo. Also
listed is “A Splendid Series of Mrs Julia Cameron’s Art
Photographs.” The body of the manual contains detailed
instructions for working the Autotype process. There
is also a note stating that instructions “ will be given
at the Autotype Works by previous appointment only,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in each week.”
Towards the end of the century, Autotype broadened
its interests further. It moved into the general photo-
graphic supply market, selling collodion for wet plates
and later its own brand of gelatine dry plates. More im-
portantly, it found a new market for the pigment paper.
This was an essential component of photogravure, a new
means of producing book and periodical illustrations that
was being perfected and commercially exploited. The
Autotype Fine Art Company was one of the fi rst fi rms
to experiment with the process and called their version
‘autogravure.’ They provided illustrations for books,
including plates for Peter Henry Emerson’s Pictures of
East Anglian Life, but soon found it more profi table to
concentrate on supplying pigment paper to what was a
rapidly growing branch of the printing industry. By 1930,
production of photogravure pigment paper represented
about 75% of the company’s manufacture.
In 1919 Autotype purchased the rights to H.E.
Farmer’s Carbro process, carbon prints made directly
from bromide prints. Autotype simplifi ed the process
and began promoting it commercially in 1921. It became
popular during the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in the
form of trichrome carbro printing, a means of produc-
ing fi ne colour prints. Autotype supplied materials and
instructions for the process until it was displaced by
tri-pack colour fi lm.