This decorative initial, from the 1698 edition of Alfred the Great’s Anglo-Saxon translation of Boethius, is particularly well-printed, with the image sitting perfectly straight in the space left for it.ĭo the black lines look like they were made by cutting away the white parts, or vice versa? With woodcuts, it’s often easy to imagine the image being the result of what was gouged out, particularly if you look closely at the shading. In prints from the early modern period, plate marks rarely extend more than a few millimeters beyond the image area, since the expense of the copper or copper alloy plate made it important not to waste any material. Visible plate mark around a decorative initial indicates an intaglio technique (engraving, in this case) Plate marks characterize engravings, etchings, and other types of intaglio print, though sometimes the mark is no longer visible. The corners are rounded (because sharp corners on the printing plate would damage the paper) and the edges often show traces of ink that wasn’t fully wiped off plate. Is there a plate mark? A plate mark is the impression that a metal printing plate leaves in the paper thanks to the high pressure of a rolling press. In other words, if you see an intaglio print on the same page as the letterpress text of a book, that page has gone through two printing presses: a common press for the text (with a gap left where the illustration should go), then a rolling press for the image. A rolling press, for printing from intaglio plates Because of the enormous pressure needed, intaglio plates have to be printed on a rolling press. The image is created by incising lines on a metal plate, forcing ink into the incised lines, wiping the surrounding surface clean, then pressing a dampened sheet of paper onto the plate under such high pressure that the paper is squeezed into the incised lines, where it picks up the ink. Etched lines are cut into the plate by acid eating away at metal exposed by scratching through a protective layer of varnish.
1 Engraved lines are cut into the metal plate by a sharp tool.
In intaglio printing, the lines that carry the ink are cut into the surrounding surface. Most early modern relief prints are woodcuts, though metal cuts were also made. Relief blocks and moveable type use the same press, so they can be printed at the same time, making it simple to include image and text on the same page. A common press, for printing from relief blocks and moveable type It takes relatively little pressure to transfer the ink to the paper, so relief prints are made using a common press, the same press used for the text of a book.
The image is created by cutting away the parts you don’t want, inking the block, then pressing a sheet of paper onto the inked block. In relief printing, the lines that carry the ink stand up higher than the surrounding surface. Background: relief and intaglioīefore the invention of lithography in the 1790s, two basic techniques for mechanically reproducing illustrations existed : relief printing and intaglio printing. By popular request, here are some of the things I look for, and some books and websites that can help. When a reader needs to verify the printmaking technique behind an early modern book illustration, I’m always happy to grab my favorite 10x loupe and head up to the Reading Room to have a closer look.