Skalgography

The name given to a new etching process for producing blocks for letter-press printing, which was in-vented by Mr. I. C. Nielsen, of 93, Chancery-lane. It has been made available for the illustration of several periodicals.

A polished zinc plate is coated with a thin white preparation, through which the drawing is executed with a horn or bone point. The zinc, thus discovered, will show the draughtsman the full effect of his work, and he works with the same facility on the plate as on a sheet of paper. The plate is then covered over with a varnish which adheres to all the drawn lines, but can be removed where the preparation is below. The plate is now ready for etching, which the inventor does by a system of his own.

It is claimed that the process of Skalgography has many advantages, one of which at least the artist will appreciate, namely, that his drawing is produced with the utmost fidelity. Six to twenty-four hours' treatment, according to the dimensions of the Oat; fits the drawing for the press. This process is said to be fit for illustrations of every description, as well as key-blocks for colour-printing, having three advantages: strict fac-simile, quick-ness and cheapness, without the disadvantages so generally shown by other similar inventions, namely, rottenness and un-evenness in line. Cheapness, combined with rapidity and good work, seems, as far as illustrations are concerned, to have been the object of the inventor of Skalgography.