REPORT OF MR. W. J. STILLMAN.
3G1
under gentle pressure on paper, produces a print equal in every respect to the best produced by any photographic process, with a texture and gradation absolutely more delicate than the most carefully printed silver prints under any conditions whatever. This process is the solution of one of the most interesting practical problems ever developed in photographic industry, and the results, within the limits of size dependent on the hydraulic pressure available, are, for certainty, equality of result, and beauty, quite unrivalled in pictorial art. The limitations of hydraulic power have, so far, kept these prints down to the size of twelve by ten inches,—not, of course, to be judged with the immense prints of Herr Albert,—but they have the advantage over those of all other processes, that they give gradation without any grain* and perfect uniformity of result,—a point not yet attained by any of the rival processes, in most of which the perfect result is exceptional. The action of the Woodbury press is so equal and certain that, once the metal intaglio is obtained, the merest tyro can print more rapidly than the most experienced printers can produce ordinary lithographs. This structureless film of tinted gelatine, when put on glass, forms transparencies, which, for the magic-lantern, for reproduction of the negative, for scientific purposes, for the production of enlarged diagrams, etc., is almost without limit in the power of enlargement; and its advantages over the granular film of the common collodion transparency, or even the albumen film prepared with silver, is evident at once on seeing the enlarged image.
The delicate relief of gelatine, when dried, is subjected to the pressure of several tons per square inch, and is completely imbedded in the soft metal, without the slightest injury from the pressure, and may be used again and again to produce duplicate moulds. This film, though, as will be understood, relieved only on one side, may be reversed, and the relief forced, through itself, to appear on the previously plane side, Without destroying its value or injuring its detail,—a quality which, it will be seen, adapts the process to negatives, taken e hher direct or reversed.
The Woodbury-type is, of all forms of the mechanical production of photographic prints, the most fitting for book
46