Printing from an original eighteenth-century plate

Some readers may remember this post from January 2016, in which I gave a potted history of the career of the copperplate-maker Benjamin Whittow (fl.1750 -1805). Whittow was one of the principle manufacturers of copperplates for the engraving trade in eighteenth-century London and his wares were used by a range of noted artists and craftsmen, ranging from William Blake to Thomas Rowlandson and Robert Dighton.

I was inspired to write that post after acquiring one of Whittow’s plates at auction in late 2015. That plate was eventually sold to John Gill, proprietor of the Printing Office of Edes & Gill in Boston, Massachusetts, and a specialist in the recreation of eighteenth-century printing techniques, who has managed to take an impression from it using a reproduction of a period wooden rolling press.  A short video of John’s second attempt at printing from the plate can be seen on his Facebook page:

As you can see from the video, John’s impression comes out flawed as a result of excess pressure being applied by the rollers. This nicely illustrates (if you’ll forgive the pun) that the printer’s skills were of equal importance to those of the artist and engraver in bringing a finished print to market. Here’s an image of a later impression. Lkely to be one of the first taken from this plate in almost 230 years:

Robert Seymour’s ‘Looking Glass’ at the Huntington Library

The Huntington possesses a trove of images from the golden age of British caricature—most notably by artists Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) and Isaac Cruikshank (1764–1811). It also owns some gems by Robert Seymour (1798–1836), an illustrator whose fame grew around the time of Rowlandson’s death. Today, Seymour is probably best known as the illustrator of the […] […]

via Ian Haywood on Robert Seymour’s ‘The Looking Glass’ at the Huntington Library — Romantic Illustration Network

Call for papers – Abusing Power: The Visual Politics of Satire

A conference organised by the University of Brighton in association with the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museum. Taking place in Brighton on 23rd September 2016.

Speakers include:

Steve Bell, political cartoonist
Martin Rowson, political cartoonist
Professor Ian Haywood, University of Roehampton
The Curator of the Cartoon Museum, London
The Curator of Fine Art at the Royal Pavilion Museums

The organisers invite proposals (c.300 words) for both papers and panels on topics which may include, but are not limited to:

Comedy and ethics – what are the responsibilities of a cartoonist? || The curation of cartoons – what should be kept? || How far can you go? Are there limits to what a cartoonist can lampoon? || The legacies of Cruikshank, Gillray and Hogarth || Religion and caricature || Representations of history through cartoon || The impact of caricature on popular ideas of politics || Celebrity and caricature || In what contexts does satire flourish and why? || Is satire necessary?

Click on the following link for more details:

http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/research/c21/events/events-calendar2/abusing-power-the-visual-politics-of-satire

Postcard from a print geek – Edes & Gill of Boston

I’ve spent the best part of the last two weeks on holiday in New England. The trip included four very agreeable days in Boston, which provided an opportunity to take a first-hand look at some of the places that were intimately involved in the early stages of the American Revolution. While it is not my intention to go all Judith Chalmers on you, there was one particular tourist attraction that I stumbled on, quite by accident, while walking the Freedom Trail, which I’m sure will be of particular interest to readers of this blog.

The Printing Office of Edes & Gill offers visitors to Boston a faithful recreation of a late eighteenth-century print works. The workshop has been kitted out in accordance with the specifications set out in Jospeh Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing of 1684, and contains detailed working replicas of a contemporary printing press and copperplate press.

Needless to say, the proprietors know an astonishing amount about the mechanics of eighteenth-century printing and are happy to explain everything from the composition of contemporary inks, to the judicious application of felt wadding to prevent copperplates slipping during the printing process. Visitors with an interest in satirical prints will also get the opportunity to watch them produce a copy of Paul Revere’s famous Bloody Massacre… in King Street, as it would have been done 250 years ago.

Edes & Gill don’t appear to have a website but here is a link to their Facebook page.

The shop is on Unity Street, Boston. If you’re walking the Freedom Trail from downtown towards Bunker Hill, you’ll find it on the left of the entrance to the grounds of the Old North Church. It’s well worth a visit.

An Invitation…

The Romantic Illustrations Network will be holding an inaugural network event at the British Academy in London on the 6th June 2014. The event will consist of the following:

1.30pm: Welcome: Susan Matthews (Roehampton)/ Tate
1.40pm: William St Clair (London IES) ‘Towards a Political Economy of Book Illustration’
2.30pm: Brian Maidment (Liverpool John Moores) ‘Comic Illustration in the Marketplace 1820-1840’
3.20pm: Tea/coffee break
3.40pm: Workshop, ‘Digital Humanities and Romantic Illustration’ – Run by Anthony Mandal, Julia Thomas, and Michael Goodman (Cardiff) digitising visual artefacts – working with large image corpora – illustrations and the digital archive
5.00pm: Open Discussion

Entrance is free and everyone is welcome to attend. Space is limited though so make sure you complete the proforma saved here and return it to Dr Mary Shannon at the University of Roehampton (mary.shannon@roehampton.ac.uk) as soon as possible. A copy of the programme is available here.

I’ll be popping along too, so please say hello if you happen to bump into me in the queue for the tea trolley. See you there.