On Nature Printing

On Nature Printing. By Mr. H. Bradbury.

Mr. Bradbury's lecture was very long and interesting—and of that special kind which is most difficult to condense. His history of experiments in (he art was especially elaborate. He said:—"Nature herself, in her mysterious operations, seems to have given the first hint upon the subject: witness the impressions of ferns so beautifully and accurately to be seen in the coal formations. Experiments to print direct from nature were made as far back as about 250 years—it is certain that the present success of the art is mainly attributable to the general advance of science and the perfection to which it has been brought in particular instances. On account of the great expense attending the production of wood cuts of plants in early times, many naturalists suggested the possibility of making direct use of Nature herself as a copyist. In the 'Book of Art,' of Alexis Pedemontanus, (printed in the year 1572,) and translated into German by Wecker, may be found the first recorded hint as to taking impressions of plants. At a later period—in the 'Journal des Voyages,' by M. de Moncoys, in 1650, it is mentioned that one Welkenstein, a Dane, gave instructions in making impressions of plants. The process adopted to produce impressions of plants at this period, consisted in laying out flat and drying the plants. By holding them over the smoke of a candle, or an oil lamp, they became blackened in an equal manner all over; and by being placed between two soft leaves of paper, and by being rubbed down with a smoothing-bone, the soot was imparted to the paper, and the impression of the veins and fibres was so transferred. Linnæus, in his 'Philosophie Botánica,' relates that in America, in 1707, one Hessel made impressions of plants; and between 1728 and 1757, Prof. Kniphof, at Eriurt, who refers to the experiments of Hessel, in conjunction with the bookseller Funke, established a printing-office for the purpose. Seligmann, an engraver at Nuremberg, in 1748, published in folio plates figures of several leaves he had reduced to skeletons. As he thought it impossible to make drawings sufficiently correct, he took impressions from the leaves ih red ink, but no mention is made of the means he adopted. Of the greater part he gave two figures, one of the upper and another of the lower side. About from twenty-five to thirty years later, Hoppe edited his 'Ectypa Plantarum Ratisbonensium,' and also his 'Ectypa Plantarum Selectarum,' the illustrations in–which were produced in a manner similar to that employed by Kniphof. These impressions were found also to be durable, but still were defective. The production of impressions could only take place very slowly, as the blacking of the plants with the printer's ball required much time. Rude as the process was, and imperfect the result, it was nevertheless found that the figures thus produced were far more characteristic than any which artists could produce. The fault of the method consisted in its limited application and its incompleteness; since the fragile nature of the prepared plant, if ever so carefully treated, would admit of but very few copies being taken, and where any great number would have been required, many plants must have been prepared, a circumstance which was in itself a great obstacle. In the year 1809 mention is made in Pritzell's 'Thesaurus' of a new method of taking natural Impressions of Plants; and lastly, in reference to the earlier history of the subject, the attention of scientific men was called to an article, in a work published by Grazer, in 1814, on a 'New Impression of Plants.' Twenty years afterwards, the subject had undergone remarkable change, not only in the mode of operation to be pursued, but also in the result produced,—which consisted in fixing an impression of the prepared plant in a plate of metal by pressure. It appears, on the authority of Prof. Thiele, that Peter Kyhl, a Danish goldsmith and engraver, established at Copenhagen, applied, himself for a length of time to the ornamentation of articles in silver ware, and the means he adopted were, taking copies of flat objects of nature and art in plates of metal by means of two steel rollers. Various productions in silver of this process were exposed in the Exhibition of Industry held at Charlottenburgh, in May, 1833. In a manuscript, written by this Danish goldsmith, entitled 'The Description (with forty-six plates) of the method to Copy Flat Objects of Nature and Art,' dated 1st of May, 1833, is suggested the idea of applying this invention to the advancement of science in general. The plates accompanying this description represented printed copies of leaves, of linen and woven stuffs, of laces, of feathers, of birds, scales of fishes, and even of serpent skins."—Passing over a great deal of intervening ground, we come to Mr. Bradbury's conclusion and summary:—"The first practical application of Nature-Printing for illustrating a botanical work, and which has been attended with considerable success, is Chevalier Von Heufler's work on the Mosses collected from the Valley of Arpasch, in Transylvania; the second, (the first in this country,) is the 'Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland,' in course of publication, under the editorship of Dr. Lindley, and printed by Messrs. Bradbury & Evans. Ferns, by their peculiar structure and general flatness, are especially adapted to develop the capabilities of the process, and there is no race of plants where minute accuracy in delineation is of more vital importance than the Ferns; in the distinction of which, the form of indentations, general outline, the exact manner in which repeated subdivision is effected, and most especially the distribution of veins scarcely visible to the naked eye, play the most important part. To express such facts with the necessary accuracy, the art of a Talbot or a Daguerre would have been insufficient until Nature-Printing was brought to its present state of perfection." Mr. Bradbury then adverted to the ingenious and beautiful productions of Felix Abate, of Naples. His Nature representations consist of sections of wood, in which the grain is admirably represented. He terms his peculiar process Thermography, or the Art of Printing by Heat. The process consists in wetting slightly the surface of the wood of which fac-similes are to be made, with any diluted acid or alkali, and then taking an impression upon paper, or calico, or white wood: the impression is quite invisible, but by exposing it for a few instants to a strong heat, the impression appears in a more or less deep tone, according to the strength of the acid or alkali. In this way every gradation of brown from maple to walnut is produced; but for some woods which have a peculiar color, the paper, &c. is to be colored, either before or after the impression, according to the lightest shades of the wood. Abate, in his manipulations, also employs the ordinary dyeing process. It is to be hoped that Abate's process may become alike useful to the natural sciences and the decorative arts. Mr. Bradbury stated, in conclusion, that we are indebted to—Kniphof, for the application of the process in its rude state; Kyhl, for having first made use of steel rollers; Branson, for the suggestion of the electrotype; Leydolt, for the remarkable results he obtained in the representation of flat objects of mineralogy, such as agates, fossils, and petrifactions; Haidinger, for having promptly suggested the impression of a plant into a plate of metal at the very time the modus operandi had been provided; Abate, for its application to the representation of different sorts of ornamental woods on woven fabrics, paper and plain wood; Worring, of the Imperial Printing Office, Vienna, for his practical services in carrying out the plans of Leydolt and Haidinger. Nature-Printing may be considered as still in its infancy; but the results already obtained in its application encourage us to expect from continued efforts such further improvements as will place it not least among the Printing Arts.

Vol. XXXI.—Third Series—No. 1.—January, 1856. 4