single line, cut across, or in a vertical direction, when it has been prepared for printing by each of the different methods: It will be seen that the line prepared for printing by the typographic or xylographic method can be inked with facility, and that, when compared with a similar line in lithographic or copper-plate work, it presents but a small surface and a slighter resistance to impression.
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| Typography or Xylography. | Lithography. | Copper-plate or Steel-plate | ||
| A. Elevated line; the only part of a typographic or of a xylographic surface which receives the ink and impression.
B. The shoulder of the type, or the field of the block; it receives neither ink nor impression. |
C. Transferred surface line; the only part of the surface which receives ink and repels moisture.
D. The surface of the stone, that imbibes moisture and repels greasy ink; it receives the full force of impression in every part. |
E. The line printed, which is engraved below the surface of the plate, and is filled with ink.
F. The smooth face of the plate, which makes no mark on the paper, but which receives the full force of impression. |
The process of copper-plate printing begins with heating the plate, and rolling it with ink, until the incised lines have been filled. The face of the plate is then wiped clean, care being taken that the ink in the incised lines is not removed. A moistened sheet of paper is then laid on the plate, and an impression is taken by forcing it under the cylinder of a rolling press. Under this pressure, the paper is forced in the sunken lines filled with ink, and the ink sticks to the paper.
Copper-plate printing is, in all points, the reverse of typographic printing. The engraved lines, cut below the surface, are filled with ink in a compact body, and not in a thin film, liable to spread under pressure, as it may on a type or on a wood-cut; the ink from a copper-plate is pressed in such a way that it re-appears on the paper in a low relief—it is not squeezed on and flatted out, but stands up with sharper line and shows a greater depth of color. The slenderness of the incised lines, the fineness and hardness of the metal, and the peculiar method by which the ink is laid on the plate and fixed to the paper, give to prints from engravings on steel or
