Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/146

 to see if he could find any printing machine that could succeed where English machines had failed.

America had for long been the home of good printing. When the stream of emigration first set in a large number of the most capable printers in England went to the States, carrying with them the best English traditions. These were the men who established the reputation of the States for good printing. They were backed by the inventive genius of America in the production of machinery. Mr. Bale went up and down the States until he found at Chicago a machine which, though not quite ready for the market, appeared to possess all the requisites for accurate registration. The best printing establishments in the States were already lodging orders for it. He brought back the specifications, and the board of directors gave an order for three machines—the first Miehle machines which came to England. They have since become so popular that a company has been formed in England for their manufacture. Their chief characteristic is their rigidity and solidity, which gives the "hair-line register" promised by the makers.

The House of Cassell now had the blocks and the machines to print them, and the moment was ripe for Mr. Bale to press forward his scheme for "The Nation's Pictures," a serial to contain representative paintings from all the metropolitan and provincial galleries belonging to the Government and the municipalities. He made the selection personally, travelling through the country in the winter months for the purpose. "The Nation's Pictures," the first important example of process work in colour, was a great success, both technically and commercially, and naturally it found many imitators. Its technical merit was largely due to the fact that every picture was photographed direct from the original, and that the proofs were carefully compared with the paintings, a process involving great trouble and expense.

"The Nation's Pictures" was the precursor of a series of similar works by means of which reproductions of the