Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/222

204 the work is distinguished by remarkable fidelity in the reproduction of such elaborate subjects on a reduced scale, as also by the taste and assiduous research which are shewn throughout the undertaking. The practical utility of such an assemblage of examples chronologically arranged, and represented with the most conscientious accuracy, will be fully appreciated by the student of middle-age antiquities, who might, without such aid, in vain endeavour to compare together the widely-scattered examples, which are here submitted at one view to his examination.

The various methods which have been adopted by different collectors, for obtaining fac-similes of sepulchral brasses, deserve some detailed description. The mode which has been noticed as the earliest in use, devised by Craven Ord and his friends, was attended with much inconvenience; the thick paper was not readily damped to the requisite degree, the slab soiled by the application of printing ink was not easily cleaned again, and moreover the process produced at best an imperfect and unsatisfactory impression. It was soon found that if paper of moderate thickness were laid upon the brass, and any black substance rubbed over the surface of the paper, the incised lines would be left white, in consequence of the paper sinking into them, and offering no resistance to the rubber, whilst all the other parts received from that substance a dark tint; and although the effect of the ordinary impression is by this process reversed, the lines which should be black being left white, and the light ground of the design rendered dark, yet a perfectly distinct fac-simile is thus obtained, with little labour and great precision, in consequence of the progress of the work being visible throughout the operation. The satisfactory result of this simple process is probably well known to most of our readers, and it may be effected by means of any substance which by friction will discolour the paper. The first attempts were made with a leaden plummet, about the same time that Craven Ord was engaged in making the "blackings" with printing ink; but common lead, being somewhat too hard for the purpose, is apt to tear the paper, an objection easily obviated by the use of a lump of the black-lead, or carburet of iron, of which drawing pencils are made. This substance works very freely, and produces an uniform effect, but the fac-similes thus produced are liable to suffer by friction, like black-lead drawings. A beautiful