[n.d. c.1850.]
Etching, facsimile. 209 x 140mm. 8¼ x 5½". Folds as to put in pocket.
Anastatic printing was a form of facsimile reproduction invented and developed in Germany in the early 1840s, patented in England in 1844. Any illustration or text based on oil-based ink could be reproduced. The document to be copied was sponged with dilute nitric acid which saturated all parts except here the ink lay, the acid being repelled from those areas by the oily nature of the ink. The original was then placed face down on a polished zinc plate and passed under the roller of a press, the pressure of which caused the acid to bite into the plate except in the inked areas. The plate was then moistened with gum and water which adhered to the bitten parts but was repelled from the oily parts. The result was a relief printing plate, with the areas to be printed raised, the areas not to be printed eaten away. It had been intended to reproduce old and rare works, but had the major failing that it sometimes destroyed the original without producing a copy!
[Ref: 27869]  £75.00