Chapter VII

Books Containing Characters Not in the Roman Alphabet, Tabular Matter, Diagrams and Illustrations

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Classification of Special Problems

∣📄 p.81 The analysis of composition costs of printed and typescript books has been made on the assumption that the vehicle for the recording or communicating of thought was to be a text consisting of words written in the Roman alphabet. Under those conditions, composition costs follow the number of words. Two thousand words cost twice as much as 1000 words.

There are, however, a number of variants of this situation, each of which affects the computation of costs in their relation to quality of product. These variant ways of presenting thought can be classified as follows:

I. Presentation of thought in words and numerals.

A. Words in the Roman alphabet and numerals arranged as usual in horizontal lines, but with variations in size or body introduced for purposes of emphasis. (Use of italics, bold-face, or smaller point size in footnote material.)

B. Words in the Roman alphabet and numerals arranged in vertical as well as horizontal lines. (Tabular material of all kinds.)

C. Words interspersed with characters not in the Roman alphabet, or numerals not arranged in simple horizontal lines: (Texts that: include quoted Greek, treatises with intricate formulae.)

II. Pictorial presentation of thought.

A. Black and white drawings. (From the standpoint of reproduction technique, diagrams, graphs, maps, and pictures in black and white are the same.)

B. Photographs or wash drawings. (The essential fact is that the reproduction must distinguish different ∥ degrees of light and shade; instead of the sharp contrast of black and white, there are continuous variations in tone.)

C. Color reproduction.

In every case where one of these vehicles for the presentation of thought is used in connection with a text, the extent of its use may be great or small; there may be many footnotes or few, many or few Chinese characters may be interspersed, there may be only one or two tabulations in a whole book, or the book may consist almost entirely of tabular materials. The pictorial material may be a greater or less proportion of the whole content of the book, it may be in the form of larger or smaller areas, large maps and charts, page-size photographs, or small pictures or charts filling each only a part of a page.

In respect of all these variants of the “normal” Look, the same fundamental distinctions hold between large and small editions, between running costs of processes like relief printing, which reduce the cost of each copy as the size of the edition increases, and of processes like the photostat, which have constant costs per copy regardless of size of edition. With costs, there are also correlated different degrees of legibility in the case of words and numerals, and different degrees of fidelity of reproduction in the case of pictorial matter. There are variations in beauty in the final product that follow from the adoption of one or another technique, or the assumption of one or another cost. There is a cost differential between the reproductions of text and picture that are sufficiently legible and faithful for the accurate transmission of thought, and reproductions which go beyond this necessity in order to give aesthetic pleasure to the reader.

∣📄 p.82 The processes already described—relief printing, photo-offset, typescript, hectograph, mimeograph, manuscript with photo-offset, blueprinting and photostating—all reappear in various combinations in the multiplying of materials of these various kinds. Descriptions and cost analyses of these processes contained in the preceding chapters can be applied to the problem presented here.

Reproduction in Typescript, Manuscript, and Relief Printing without Pictorial Matter

When a text consists of words in the Roman alphabet, arranged in horizontal lines, but with variations in size or body, the ordinary typewriter begins to lose efficiency in comparison with the linotype or monotype on the one hand and the Varityper on the other. The standard typewriter can introduce only three variations into the form of a text: it can underline words or sentences, change the interlinear spacing, and change the length of line. These variations are usually introduced in typescript to set off quoted matter from non-quoted matter. They do not always materially increase typescript composition costs, and they affect multiplying costs of typescript books only in so far as these interfere with the use of non-standard interlinear spacing. If the spacing of four and one-half or five lines to the inch is used with pica typescript, the quoted matter cannot be set off from the regular text by reducing the interlinear spacing. If footnotes are to be introduced, the composition cost is increased by the need for careful calculation to distribute the page correctly between the text and footnote.

The disadvantage of the standard typewriter in the preparation of typescript material with footnotes for photo-offset reproduction can be met to some extent by the use of paste pot and shears in the making of the format copy. The footnotes can be typed separately with an elite or micro-elite machine, and pasted on the bottom of the page of text.

The Varityper will allow the introduction of a greater number of varieties of typescript faces and the text and interlinear spacings. The linotype or monotype is still more elastic in this respect. ∥

Composition costs will sometimes increase with the introduction of these variants. To give a quantitative comparison of the increase in cost is not practical. The differences do not seem to be great enough to have decisive influence on the choice of techniques, unless (in the case of typescript composition) the need for the Varityper machine should make it impractical to calculate typescript composition costs on any basis save that of the prices of format copying offered by photo-offset companies. In a particular case these shop prices may be so much higher than the office costs of standard typescript composition that the change from typescript to relief printing would be indicated.

In the preparation of tabular matter, the linotype or monotype exhibits advantages because it facilitates the centering of text on a page and of the headings of columns. The typewriter stands at a disadvantage in the preparation of tabular material because of the lack of elasticity in the size of letters in the headings of columns. The mimeoform process is not well adapted to the production of tabular material because it does not easily reproduce vertical lines. The typewriter also shows its limitations when vertical lines on a page are desired.

If tabular material is to be given its maximum beauty and clarity, it may call for manuscript composition. The kind of skill in lettering and numbering that is used in the manuscript composition of tabular material is widely available, since it is developed by the engineering profession and taught in vocational schools as “mechanical drawing.” The three techniques available for the reproduction of tabular material are, then, relief printing, typescript with or without photographic multiplying, and manuscript with some photographic techniques of multiplying (blueprinting, photostating, photo-offset, etc.)

Cost comparisons are difficult to establish among the three kinds of composition of tabular matter. In linotyping, the extra charge for tabular matter may run from 75% to 600%; in typescript, from 25% to 200%; and the cost of manuscript preparation of tables can be guessed from the fact that draughtsmen are available at wages of $.60 per hour for ordinary skill and $1.00 per hour for high skill, and that ∣📄 p.83 their speed is much less than that of a typist.

When words are interspersed with characters not in the Roman alphabet, the non-Roman characters may happen to be in another alphabet (i.e., Greek or Russian) that is available as a special matrix for the linotype, or as a special type font, or a special type plate for the Varityper. A font of type sufficient for occasional Russian words in a book costs $30.00 or $40.00; a Varityper type plate costs $5.00 in bakelite and $8.50 in metal; a font of Chinese type varies in cost according to completeness. There could be no linotype matrix or Varityper type plate for Chinese on account of the number of the symbols.

The only alternative to the use of the special matrix, type font, or type plate is the use of manuscript. The text, as typed or printed in Roman characters, can be interspersed with the Chinese or other characters by hand. If the whole book is to be printed by relief printing, these hand-drawn symbols can be made into small line cuts, exactly as if they were drawings, and filled into the spaces left in the linotype or monotype composition; if the book is to be reproduced by a photographic technique, they can be drawn in place upon the typescript or printed format copy,¹ after which no special costs will arise.

In the case of a Bibliography on Northeastern Asia, compiled by Professor Kerner of the University of California, there were 15,500 items, of which 5,000 titles were in the western language; 3,500 in Russian; 2,500 in Chinese; and 2,500 in Japanese. Letterpress reproduction was out of the question because of the high costs involved in connection with the foreign languages and the small-edition size; photo-offset was the ideal process for the job. The method proposed in the making of the master copy was to have the English typed in first, space being gauged and allowed for the other titles. The Russian was then to be typed in with a Hammond typewriter; these pages in turn were to be given over to a student who would write in the Chinese and Japanese characters by hand, in a size proportionate to the typing. The pages would then be ready to ∥ serve as the master copy for the photo-offset work. Estimates for the composition cost of the master copy ranged from $1,200 to $3,000.

The need for special equipment and special skill in the reproduction of materials with non-Roman alphabet content limits the competition for the work to certain specially favored plants. The author himself may be in a position to assume some of the composition costs by filling in the non-Roman symbols in spaces left for the purpose in the typescript or printed composition. This shifting of composition cost toward the author is a normal possibility in the production of typescript books; it becomes especially important if the preparation of the format copy requires a rare skill or knowledge that the author happens to command, either in himself or in his assistants.

Techniques in the Reproduction of Pictorial Matter

There are six fundamental techniques for the reproduction of pictorial matter. All of them involve the use of photography and hence permit enlargements or reductions from the original picture. The costs of all of them are fundamentally area costs and running costs, for one can hardly speak of a composition cost factor in the reproduction of pictures. Most of them have already been described and analyzed in connection with the reproduction of texts. They must here be given further description and classification.

The six fundamental techniques are the following:

1. Relief processes. These come up from the original wood-block technique. Ink is carried to paper on the raised part of the printing surface. The standard forms in which this technique appears in small edition book publishing are the zinc cut and the zinc or copper photoengraving.
2. Planographic processes. These are related to the original lithography. A plane surface differentially receptive to ink receives the ink from a roller and transfers it to the paper. Photo-offset is the standard form. ∣📄 p.84
3. Intaglio processes. These are variants of etching. Ink is carried to paper in the sunken parts of a metal surface.
4. Photogelatin or collotype. This process bears some resemblance to planographic processes because the printing surface is differentially receptive to ink and moisture, some resemblance to intaglio because there are actually raised parts of the surface that reject ink and depressed parts that receive it.
5. Photosensitive paper processes. These are blueprinting, photostating, and photography. In these processes there is no use of ink. The paper used, for multiplying the pictorial matter is covered over its entire area with a photosensitive surface and then subjected to the action of light and to chemical action that transfers the image to it.
6. Projection image processes. These correspond to microcopying. They are the same as those using photosensitive paper except that the image is developed on a transparent medium (glass or film) in a reduced size and then rendered useful by projection on a screen.

Color production processes are variants of these. They will receive no special discussion in this chapter, not because they lack importance, but rather because their complexity makes analysis of costs and results) difficult, and their place in the reproduction of materials of scholarship is subordinate to that of the monochromatic processes.

In all of these processes there are different degrees of fidelity in reproduction of pictorial matter. These differences are of two kinds: differences in fineness of detail and differences in fineness or accuracy of tone.

The fineness of detail is primarily a resultant of size. an original picture multiplied in a copy 6” x 9” will show more detail than the same picture multiplied in a copy 3” x 4½”. But the method of reproduction has something to do with it. The 3” x 4½” copy made by the photosensitive paper process on a good bromide paper might show more detail than the 6” x 9” copy made on photostat paper; the smaller copy carefully photoengraved with a high screening would show more detail ∥ than the larger copy done with a low screening. These terms will be explained below; the essential fact to be established at this point is the quality of fineness of detail as an element in the reproduction of pictorial matter.

The variations in accuracy or fineness of tone are evident in the first instance in the contrast between a pen and ink drawing and a photograph. The pen and ink drawing has but two tones—black and white; the photograph has a number of intermediate tones. Some processes of reproduction (such as telephoto on newsprint paper) will render with recognizable distinctness only three or four tones; photography on a soft bromide paper will render so many different tones that the measure of them is given not by the actual surface of the picture, but by the sensitivity of the human eye to distinctions in light intensity.

Moreover, some processes will show the maximum number of distinctions in tone in the lighter greys and will cause all the darker areas of the picture to take on a flat black. This is especially true of the photogelatin process. Others will bring out very clearly the different tones in the darker areas but show few differences of shading in the lighter parts. The success of a particular process in separating the tones of a picture carries with it success in exhibiting some kinds of detail.

Another distinction to be made between these processes is their different degrees of adaptability in the combining of pictorial and textual matter. The relief pictorial processes combine with relief printing in the production of books, the planographic processes with photo-offset printing. Intaglio and photogelatin processes are used for the production of pictorial matter separate from text but are capable of being combined with text in a bound form. There seems to be no good technical reason for not combining photogelatin pictorial work with reproduction of text by photogelatin, though the combination has not actually entered trade practice. Pictures made on photosensitive paper can also be bound into books. Only pictures made on transparent media for projection are absolutely incapable of combination with text in book form. Any or all of these processes can be used to reproduce ∣📄 p.85 pictorial matter in a form or size that will not be bound with the text in a book but will go to the reader of the book as a separate item.

Photoengraving and Photo-Offset

The fundamental elements of the photo-offset process have been explained in the chapter on the reproduction of out-of-print books and have received further reference in the chapter on the photo-offset reproduction of typescript books.

The first part of the photo-offset process is the fundamental one in the reproduction of pictorial matter in large editions, because it appears not only in the production of books by photo-offset, but also as an intermediate stage in the preparation of line cuts and photoengravings for relief printing.

The first stage in this process is the making of a photographic negative. While photolithographers have developed the use of film and paper negatives, photoengravers have remained loyal to the wet plate process for making negatives. There is no technological reason for this; it is the result rather of the traditions of the craft.

The photographic negative is then transferred to a sensitized metal surface. The image is burned on to a zinc sheet that has been coated with albumen and ammonium bichromate, the unfixed emulsion is washed off, and the zinc surface is inked. Up to this point the photo-offset process and photoengraving process are the same. So far as the chemical quality of the metal surface is concerned, it would be ready to be clipped on to a photo-offset press. But an additional stage is necessary if the metal is to be prepared for relief printing.

The additional step, required for the sake of using the relief printing principle, is an application of an acid etch to the prepared zinc sheet. The inked plate is dusted with powdered resin or “dragon’s blood,” which adheres to the ink and falls off the clean metal. The dragon’s blood is melted into place by warming the zinc. This will protect the printing surface from acid. Then the zinc is bathed in acid. Repeated baths of acid and coatings of dragon’s blood cut away the exposed parts of the plate and leave the pro∥ tected parts as a raised printing surface. When the printing surface is prepared in this way, it is tacked on a wooden block and is then ready to be fitted in with linotype slugs or monotype composition in a flat-bed press.

Of course the two processes are not in practice as interchangeable as this description might make it appear. The photo-offset worker uses a special thin metal sheet, which may be aluminum rather than zinc; the photoengraver uses a heavier sheet of metal which he will cut up into blocks. He may use copper or nickel instead of zinc. The traditions of the two crafts are very different, but the chemistry of the process is the same, save that the photoengraver must carry out an additional step, namely, the acid etch.

In the photo-offset process this preparation of the printing surface is identical for text and for black-and-white pictorial matter. In the relief printing process the preparation of the printing surface for the text by linotype is quite different from the preparation of the pictorial printing surface or line cut. Therefore, in relief printing, an additional cost: factor must be taken into account—the fitting together of pictorial and textual printing surfaces. This cost factor is absent from the photo-offset process.

Half-tone Pictures in Photo-Offset and Photoengraving

Photo-offset and photoengraving present the same similarities as and differences from other processes when pictorial matter to be reproduced is not a black-and-white image, but a half—tone picture showing different shades of grey. To print, whether by photo-offset or relief technique, a picture that will show different shades of grey requires resort to an optical illusion.

If a number of small dots on a white ground are seen from a reading distance they will appear to run together as grey. The grey will be lighter or darker according to the density of the dots—that is to say, according to the proportion of the paper surface they occupy. The tone will seem smooth or rough according to the size of the dots. The photoengraver or photo-offset printer, when he reproduces a photograph, renders the greys intermediate ∣📄 p.86 between black and white by printing aggregations of dots. The newspaper reproductions of photographs are so coarse that they can be analyzed by the naked eye into their constituent arrays of dots; there are small black dots in the lighter greys, larger ones in the darker greys, while in the darkest greys the black dots rum together, leaving small white dots between them.

To break the continuous tones of an original photograph into a printing surface that will, by putting dots on paper, give an illusion of a comparable range of tone, the photoengraver or photolithographer prepares his negative in a special way. He uses a “screen.” The screen is a combination of two sheets of glass, ruled diagonally with opaque lines crossing at right angles, and cemented and bound together. When the light passes through such a screen, it reaches the plate in dots and so causes the image on the negative to appear in dots also. Four main factors determine these dot formations: the amount of light reflected by the copy (i.e., the light and shade tones of the photograph that is being copied), the size of the openings used in the camera, the distance of the screen from the photographic plate, and the fineness of the screen. The fineness of the screen is expressed in lines to the inch and varies from 45 to 400.

The screening of the photograph is a stage in the preparation of the negative, whether wet plate, film, or paper. When the screened negative has been prepared, the further steps in the process, whether for photo-offset or relief printing, are identical with the steps that must be taken in the case of black-and-white drawings.

There has been devised a special kind of screen made up of very small lens formations stamped in a sheet of heavy transparent cellulosic film.) It is said that this screen simplifies the work of making screened negatives and may therefore reduce the skilled labor element in the cost of making screened photographs.

Half—tones screened up to 100 to the inch are made on zinc, above that they are usually made on copper, and very fine screening is done on nickel. The photo-offset press can reproduce half-tones screened as fine as 175, but generally uses screens from 120–150 lines to the inch. ∥ The ordinary photographic work seen in the advertising pages of magazines is screened 120–155 lines to the inch; newspaper photographs are screened 45 to 65 lines; the aquatone process, a variant of photo-offset, uses screens up to 400 lines to the inch.

In general, the finer the screen the more faithful will be the reproduction of detail. The reader who would appraise the effect of refinement in screening upon rendition of detail and richness of tone is referred to the exhibits bound herewith. (Figures XLVI-XLIX.) The photographic work on the finer screens is no more costly than on the coarse screens, but the printing is more difficult. The finer the screen the more careful the presswork must be, and the smoother the finish of the paper upon which it is to be printed. The photo-offset-press does not require the delicate make-ready necessary with highly screened plates on a flat-bed press, but the tones rendered by the offset method often appear flat in contrast with the products of photoengraving.

The Large and Small Offset Presses in Pictorial Work

In Chapter III, on reprinting of books, it was stated that there are two kinds of photo-offset presses: the large press, such as the Harris press, used by printers for commercial work; and the smaller presses, such as the rotaprint and multilith, used also as office equipment by non-professional operators. In Chapter V, on the typescript book, there was included a discussion of plate size in connection with format, and of the use of direct typing on the metal sheet of the smaller photo-offset presses.

In this chapter, where illustrative material is under discussion, it becomes necessary to compare the efficiency of the large and small presses in respect of fineness of work. Needless to say, the quality of a press is reflected in its work in the reproduction of books out of print and in the reproduction of typescript books; but the presswork becomes most important when screened photographs are to be reproduced, for differences in quality of presswork manifest themselves most clearly in the reproduction of half-tones. ∣📄p.[86a] (blank) ∣📄 p.[86b]

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The representatives of the ∣📄 p.87 manufacturers of these presses make various claims as to the quality of their products. To lay the matter objectively before the reader, the Joint Committee has taken two photographs–an archeological picture and a manuscript—and had them both screened at 85, 133, 150, and 175 lines to the inch. This negative, with its four different screenings, was then run on the rotaprint (Figure XLII), the multilith (Figure XLIII), and the Harris press (Figure XLI). The differences between fineness of screening can be noted by comparing, on the same page, the first and last reproductions; the differences in presswork, and presumably in efficiency of the press, are detected by comparing a reproduction in one screening on one press with the reproduction in the same screening on another press.

Photogelatin or Collotype

In the reproduction of half-tone pictures, there is an alternative to the use of the optical illusion produced by the arrangement of dots on a white background. The ink itself may be laid on the paper in a surface of varying depth. Anyone who examines a badly printed page of type may observe that some of the letters are lighter than others because the printer has not given the paper an even pressure on the type metal surfaces; some letters are therefore printed in a lighter tone than others. This same principle of varying the amount of ink that is laid on a paper surface will reproduce half-tones. The two techniques that utilize this principle are photogelatin (sometimes called collotype) and photogravure.

In photogelatin printing, as in dermaprint, the chemical basis of the process is the action of gelatin and a bichromate under the influence of light. A plate of glass or metal that has been ground to give it a tooth is covered with gelatin that has been made light-sensitive by being treated with ammonium bichromate, and is rapidly dried with heat. The rapid drying leaves the gelatin in a state of strain. It is ready, on the slightest provocation, to crackle like the paint on a badly painted surface. This crackling is called “reticulation.” At this point photography intervenes.

The sensitized gelatin—covered plate in exposed to light in a vacuum ∥ printing frame through a photographic negative. The transparent parts of the negative (i.e., the ones which will print black in the finished copy) allow the light to tan the bichromated gelatin; the dark parts of the negative leave the gelatin untanned. When the plate is then developed in water, the gelatin crackles or reticulates, because the tanned gelatin on top resists the expansion of the soft gelatin below. This cracked surface has a crepelike formation with more reticulation in the high lights and less in the shadows. This grain in photogelatin is much finer than the grain of a highly screened photoengraving. Moreover, the photogelatin plate does not exhibit, like the photolithographic plate, a sharp distinction between the parts that will take ink and those that will not. The amount of the tanning effect upon the gelatin and the degree of reticulation show continuous gradations from those parts of the plate that have received most light to those that have received least.

When the photogelatin plate has been exposed and developed, it is moistened with a mixture of glycerine and water before being inked. The glycerine—water mixture does two things: first, it swells the untanned parts of the gelatin surface so that they rise slightly higher than the tanned and reticulated parts. This permits the ink to lie more heavily in the parts of the plate that have received most light during exposure under the photographic negative. Because of this slight difference in height of printing surface, the process is sometimes called an intaglio process.

The second thing done by the glycerine-water mixture is more in line with photolithographic principles. Since the raw glycerine absorbs more moisture than the tanned gelatin, it is less receptive to ink. The soft gelatin acts like the moistened metal surface of the photolithographic plate, taking water and rejecting ink. The supply of moisture on the gelatin is not replenished from any water roller, but from the air. The glycerine picks up the moisture from the air.

The photogelatin plate will not make as many impressions as the photolithographic plate. When the gelatin is laid on glass, it lasts for about 5000 impressions; when laid on aluminum, for 5000 to 10,000 impressions. Because of the short ∣📄 p.88 life of the plate, the photogelatin process is not suited to long runs.

In the photogelatin technique, photographs are reproduced without screening. This fact may result in lower costs than would appear in photoengraving or even in photo-offset of screened photographs.

Another peculiarity of the photogelatin technique is the ability to reproduce pictures printed as photoengravings. It is very difficult to make a new screened photoengraving from a published half-tone, because the light from the aggregation of dots in the half-tone does not behave in the screening like light from an original photograph or wash drawing. If an author wishes to use from a published book a photoengraved illustration, he can secure a much more accurate copy with the photogelatin technique than with the photoengraving or photo-offset technique. In a series of history books, The Rise of Modern Europe, the firm of Harper Brothers used photogelatin for the reproduction of illustrations. The use of this process has made it much easier than it would otherwise be to gather the illustrative material, because pictures could be copied without going back to the photographs from which the photoengraved prints were made.

The presses used in the photogelatin process are of two types: the rotary presses, taking large flexible metal sheets (usually aluminum); and the flat-bed presses, which use a thick sheet of glass. The dimensions of these presses vary. The Continental Lithograph Corporation of Cleveland has rotary presses 44” x 64”; the Meriden Gravure Company of Meriden, Connecticut, uses a flat-bed press 28” x 39”.

The principle explained in connection with the photo-offset process, that that format is least costly which uses the largest proportion of the available printing surface area with least wastage, ap- plies equally to photogelatin.

The photogelatin process, primarily used for illustrations either in book publications or in posters, could be adapted to the reproduction of textual matter. There is no technological obstacle to the preparation of copy for the photogelatin process in the form of typescript text and unscreened photographic prints or negatives. Two full-tone collotype reproductions are shown herewith (Figure XLIV, XLV). Note ∥ also the enlargement of microcopied print in Chapter XI, Exhibit LXIII.

The limitation imposed upon this process by the rapid wearing out of the printing surface has influenced the use of the process commercially. But this limitation is more like an advantage when the process is considered in connection with the reproduction of research materials, for the accountancy and trade practices of the photogelatin shop have adapted themselves to the short runs that are common to all research publications.

Intaglio Processes: Photogravure

All intaglio printing processes use a metal plate in which shallow depressions receive ink, which is then transmitted to paper, making a darker tone where the depression is deepest, and a lighter tone where the depression is slight.

The photogravure process is a photochemical intaglio technique. A smooth sheet of copper is first given a very fine dusting with powdered asphaltum or resin. When this fine dust is baked on to the plate it furnishes a protective grain, comparable to the grain that appears in the photogelatin process when the gelatin reticulates under the influence of the light.

Then a film of bichromated gelatin is laid on the copper plate and printed on the same principle as that which is used in the photogelatin process, except that in this case it is printed from a positive photograph instead of a negative. The light therefore hardens the gelatin in those parts of the picture that are to be light, and leaves it soft in those parts of the picture that are to be dark. The copper plate is then put into an acid bath, which quickly eats away the soft gelatin and gets to work on the copper; but its action on the copper is slower to the degree that the hardening of the gelatin (as an effect of light) has slowed it down. Thus the copper plate will emerge from the process with depressions that are deepest in those areas which correspond to the dark places in the positive photograph and slightest in the places that correspond to the light places in the original photograph. ∣📄 p.[88a]

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∣📄 p.89 One of the advantages of the photogravure method over others is the ease with which the plate can be retouched by The shadows can be darkened, for instance, by deepening the depressions in the copper.

Aquatone and Pantone

Two variants of the photo-offset process should be mentioned at this time. One of them is the aquatone process, a planographic process that produces remarkably faithful reproductions of photographs from a gelatin plate. It is not a widely used process, Edward Stern and Company, Inc., of Philadelphia being the only establishment the author knows of that does this kind of work,² but it makes very fine reproductions. It has many similarities to the photogelatin method. An example of aquatone work is displayed herewith (Figure L).

The aquatone plate is made of a thin sheet of zinc. Edward Stern and Company, Inc., uses a 45” x 54” plate for its presses. To furnish a base for the gelatin coating, the zinc sheet is “grained” with quartz; the gelatin is then applied, set, and washed in a hardening solution. For further hardening, the plate is baked to 200° F. A bichromate sensitizer is used to make the gelatin light sensitive, and then the plate is put in a printing frame in contact with the illustration it is desired to reproduce.

The illustration to be reproduced, which has been stripped onto a sheet of glass, is pressed into close contact with the plate, and the printing is accomplished by exposure of the sensitive plate to a strong arc lamp. The light makes the sensitized gelatin which has been exposed become impervious to water and alcohol. When the printing stage is passed, water and alcohol are used to develop the plate; this water and alcohol solution removes the unaffected bichromate and leaves a positive image. A second baking toughens the gelatin and gives it a longer life on the press. The plate is now ready to be run.

During all this preparatory work, cleanliness, controlled temperature condi∥ tions, and precision are essential for good results.

The plate is fastened to a cylinder and fed water during each revolution by a water roller. The average plate runs about 20,000 impressions, but a run of 30,000 or more is quite possible. Only the gelatin that has not been affected by the light will absorb the water; therefore, when the ink rollers come into contact with the cylinder, the ink is repelled by the dampened gelatin and attracted by the dry positive image. The rubber blanket cylinder, receiving the ink that has been deposited on the plate, comes in turn in contact with the impression cylinder and brings the paper into position for receiving the ink impression.

Offset paper with a very hard rough surface is best suited for aquatone work.

The cost of aquatone work compares with that of fine offset work.

The second variant is the pantone or mercury process. Pantone is a complicated process designed to make use of a principle similar to that of photolithography to prepare a printing surface which will stand long rums and be very resistant to wear. It makes use of the fact that chromium is a hard metal which will accept and transfer ink, while mercury will re- fuse ink. The chromium serves instead of the grease of primitive lithography; the mercury takes the place of water on the wet surface of the stone.

Although this process is not useful in cheapening small editions, it is interesting as an illustration of the variety of techniques which can be used in printing. A sheet of iron is coated with a thin surface of copper and a very thin surface of chromium on top of the copper, and then a photographic emulsion on top of the chromium. The text is transferred to the plate in the usual photolithographic method, and the parts of the metal which ordinarily receive water are etched with acid through the chromium to the copper. Silver is then deposited on the plate and adheres to the copper but avoids the chromium. The mercury is rubbed over the plate, and the mercury amalgamates with the silver. ∣📄 p.90 The result is an all-metal plate which will print without using the raised-type principle. Related processes are the Renck and Porte methods.

Some efforts have been made to use the mercury process for combining the photolithographic principle with the mechanics of the flat-bed press. The process is also used with the offset press. It has no immediate practical importance in connection with the problems of reproducing research materials.

Dermaprint

The dermaprint stencil method has been described in connection with the reproduction of out-of-print books. It is the coarsest of the multiplying techniques that utilize the photographic principle. The dermaprint stencil will reproduce line drawings, but in the reproduction of screened pictures it will take only the coarsest screens. Dermaprint screening is not even as fine as the screening used in newspaper work.

Photosensitive Paper Processes

Illustrations can be copied by the various blueprinting techniques, by photostat, and by photographic printing on bromide paper. The differences in quality are not unlike those differences that appear in the other techniques: they are differences in the accuracy in the rendition of detail, and differences in faithfulness in the reproduction of tones. The so-called “soft” bromide papers give the widest range of tones; hard bromide papers and photostat papers offer a much reduced range, and the blueprint types of paper offer even less tone variety. The variation in accuracy in the rendering of detail is the same: the bromide prints are most accurate and the blueprints least accurate. The costs naturally are in reverse order. In making cost comparisons, two types of material should be distinguished: those requiring only black-and-white contrast and those requiring half-tones.

Cost Comparisons

The starting point of cost comparisons must be a picture of a given area reproduced in editions of varying size. The dimensions of the picture chosen for this first comparative table are 4” x 6” because ∥ a picture of this size can be used in an ordinary octavo 6” x 9”. It is assumed, moreover, that 100 illustrations of identical size are required. The book here described is, therefore, a book of 100 pages of pictorial material, consisting of 6” x 9” pages with pictorial matter 4” x 6” on each page.

This crude comparison indicates that in size of edition the processes that operate by diminishing costs (photo-offset, photoengraving, photogelatin, photogravure) begin to become cheaper than the processes involving more constant costs (blueprint, photostat, bromide photographs) when the edition is between 50 and 100 copies. But there are a number of other variables to be considered. These variables relate both to cost conditions and quality conditions.

One variation in cost conditions has to do with the number of different pictures reproduced. If the specifications called for the reproduction of only one or five or twelve pictures instead of a hundred, would there be a substantial modification of the cost relationships that appear on the foregoing table? If the pictorial matter were in larger pictorial surfaces or smaller pictorial surfaces, would the processes still stand in the same cost order?

The information needed to answer these questions accurately is not at hand. There are, however, certain concrete quotations which can be set down and then compared in so far as they are comparable. All the diminishing cost techniques are represented, for quotations have been given by a firm specializing in photogravure and a firm specializing in photogelatin, and photoengraving prices are highly standardized. These quotations are taken to cover different sizes of picture and different sizes of page, according to the table on page 92.

Combination of Pictorial and Textual Matter

The full complexity of the cost analysis of the reproduction of pictorial matter does not appear until allowance is made for the different ways in which pictures may be combined with text.

The simplest situation is that of the photo-offset book illustrated with black-and-white drawings, charts, or maps. ∣📄p.[90a] (blank) ∣📄 p.[90b]

∣📄p.[90c] (blank) ∣📄 p.[90d]

∣📄 p.91 ∣📄 p.92

Here the pictorial material is simply combined with the format copy, and no further effect upon cost is felt.

Whenever pictorial material is to be combined with relief printing, the cost of fitting the type around the photoengraved blocks must be met.

When half-tone work is combined with text in photo-offset the cost of the screening must be added to the normal cost of photo-offset book production.

Consider the situation of an author who has written a book and wishes to illustrate it. He has gathered as illustrations either drawings or photographs. The photographs may be original prints or copies from printed photoengravings. He now wishes to determine the process to be used in publishing.

If his edition is to be less than fifty, he will probably fare best if he makes up a typescript book by one of the processes and in one of the formats discussed in Chapter V, and then has the ∥ photographic material duplicated by a blueprint or bromide-print process. In binding his book, he will simply gather the illustrative sheets with the typescript pages and have them bound in place.

If the edition is larger, he may wish to take advantage of the law of diminishing costs in larger editions and to set up his book for reproduction by printing, photo-offset, or photogelatin. He will then wish to decide whether the illustrative material should be fitted in with the text or reproduced as separate pages. The variables are so numerous that it will not be possible to set forth here the definite costs that may be involved in any decision.

The most important distinction must be made between the drawings, which are to be done in black and white, and the tone pictures, which must be reproduced to show the intermediate tones. The next most important decision lies between publication of illustrations on separate pages or on the same pages with the text.

∣📄 p.92

For the drawings the author has two choices: he may elect relief printing with zinc line-cuts, or photo-offset from typescript. For the toned illustrations, he may choose photoengraving with printing, photo-offset from typescript with screened illustrations, or photogelatin.

Note that in all these processes the stage in book production is reached after which the presence of illustrative material adds nothing to costs. In the printing process this stage does not arrive until the entire first cost is met and the press is ready to run; in the case of photo-offset of drawings, or photogelatin of drawings or half tones, the stage is reached when the photographic negative is trued up; in the case of photo-offset of half tones it is reached when the screening is completed. The whole process of etching ∥ on metal and fitting metal to type is a part of a relief-printing cost, but not of a photo-offset or photogelatin cost.

If the area cost of photogelatin work were the same as area cost of photo-offset, this process would be indicated for all combinations of photographs with text. Since the prices for this process are not highly standardized, an accurate table indicating the amount of screened photography in relation to the amount of text that would make photogelatin the favored process cannot be made. But the conclusion will probably stand that if the amount of text (i.e., the page area covered by text) is small enough in comparison with the area covered by pictorial matter, photogelatin will stand out as the best technique for the reproduction of an illustrated work,

It must be emphasized again that in ∣📄 p.93 reproduction of illustrations, as in all cases where area costs predominate, the costs are increased as the size of the illustrations is increased, and diminished as their size is diminished. The alternatives confronting the author in this case are the same as those which confront him in the reproduction of the text itself, whether it is a reprint of an out-of-print book or a typescript book reproduced by photo-offset: he can always cut costs by sacrificing size, and with size, beauty and legibility.

There is another way in which pictorial and textual matter may be combined. The pictorial matter may be separately printed and then combined with the textual matter in the course of the bookbinding process.

The effect of this method of combining text and picture is to convert it into a running cost, for the cost of binding varies almost directly with the number of copies bound, and the cost of inserting extra pictures of sheets while gathering the folded pages of a book varies almost directly with the number of copies and the number of insertions per copy.

it is not excluded that the author should have recourse to microcopying to lay illustrative material before his reader. A text might be issued in an edition of appropriate size, and the illustrative material to go with it reproduced as a strip of film, to be used by projection on a screen or in a reading machine. The cost levels at which such films can be manufactured and distributed will be discussed in Chapter XII; it need only be noted at this point that the technique is at hand, and that it might lead to a practice of far more copious pictorial illustrations than the scholarly world has as yet dreamed of using. ∥

Summary

The reproduction of pictorial matter, like the texts, can be accomplished at costs varying over a wide range and permitting sales at normal prices or prices not greatly in excess of normal, in editions varying through all the ranges of the possible scholarly market, from that which is presented by the few largest research libraries to that which just falls short of the requirements of the commercial publisher.

That which is usually spoken as the “cost” of publishing a book, whether illustrated or not, whether in ordinary Roman characters or not, is only a special instance of a great range of possible costs. It is usually the cost of applying a relief-printing technique to the distribution of an intellectual product to a non-commercial market. The difference between the probable income from a full, normal, commercial market and the anticipated income from an actual scholarly market is usually made up as a subsidy to the press, which has made no technological concessions to the situation. The press publishes as if the book were to be sold to 2000 or more buyers and asks the sponsors of the publication to relieve it of the financial consequences of proceeding on this fiction.

True it is that scholars are not yet accustomed to books in typescript, illustrations in blueprint, nor to many of the varieties of product that technology now puts at their disposal. If they can but accommodate themselves to the new techniques, important barriers to intellectual intercourse can be made to fall. ∣📄 p.94

Endnotes