56 TABIOUS MODES OF PHINTING FROM AtJTOGRAPKS. 



VII. 



Hints on various Modes of Printing from AvtograpJis, By 

 €L CtMBERi/AND, Esq, hi a Letter from the Author, 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 Sin, 



.S yduv Jdurnal is frequently enlivened by bin £8 of jm- 



pfovertient in the Arts, uo less than by accounts of new iu- 



irentions; allow me, when it is agreeable to you, to occupy 



a page or two with sooie .thoughts on a subject particularly 



interesting to authors; and which might, if reduced to prac- 



\ mode of tice successfully, be of general service to mankind. Every 



own woks^'"^ original writer justly laments the expense, difficulty, and 



would be very fraud, he is subject to, if he gives his works to the press. If 



a vaiitageuus tJ^ergfor^^, ^ny method could be devised, to enable a man of 



to men ci let- -^ _ ' 



rcrs. talents to be his own printer, and take off his own copies as 



they were demanded, without the intervention of a pub- 

 lisher, a new and brilliant era in the world of Ijptters would 

 be comrfienced; that would make thought and reflection, 

 when justly employed, as valuable to the possessor^ as the ta- 

 lent for manual arts; and we might hope to see the day 

 arrive, when the profession of letters might afford as proba- 

 ble a means of getting a fortune as any other profession what- 

 ever. 

 Materials sitg- In order to accomplish this desirable end, I have, long 

 gfcsicd. j^g^^ j.yjj over ip comparison every substance, that might 



possibly contribute to this purpose. Metals, wood, clay, 

 paper, have not been forgotten; and although I cannot offer 

 any one as having been fairly tried, (owing to a variety of 

 other occupations), yet 1 trust I may, by enumerating them, 

 afford hints to others, that may ultimately be useful. 

 Copper. My first idea was copper, written on by a stile through 



white wax, and when printed perused backwards by means 

 of a mirror. *But this would have demanded the talents of 

 a B lake, who alone excels in that art: or we must have a 



* I apprehend there is an omission here of some such words as the 

 fallowing. . " It might be written upon backward," 



child 



