Oct. 8. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



349 



houses and five macliines, otherwise Mr. Wilkin- 

 son's supposititious case (ibid.), of all machines in 

 one, and all houses in the other, might be con- 

 sidered as stereoscopic. 



In concluding this very lengthened and, I fear, 

 tedious reply, I beg to assert that I am most 

 willing to recant any proposition I may have put 

 Ibrth, li proved to be erroneous ; but I must have 

 proof, not mere assertion. And farther, my wil- 

 ling thanks arc always tendered to any one kind 

 enough to correct an error. Geo. Shadbolt. 



Mr. Pumphrei/s Process for securing black Tints 

 in Positives. — The importance that appears to be 

 attached by some of thy correspondents to the 

 stereoscopic appearance of photographs, induces 

 me to call the attention of those who may not 

 have noticed it to the fact that, as all camera 

 pictures are monocular, they are best seen by 

 closing one eye, and then tliey truly represent 

 nature ; and the eifect of distance (which so often 

 appears wanting in photographs) is given with 

 marvellous effect, so well indeed as to render the 

 use of a stereoscope unnecessary. Like other pho- 

 tographers, I have been long seeking for a method, 

 easy, cheap, and certain, for obtaining the black 

 tints that are so highly prized by many in the 

 French positives ; and having at last attained the 

 object of my search, I lose no time in laying it 

 before my fellow-operators. 



_ I obtain these results with a twenty-grain solu- 

 tion of nitrate of silver, a fact that will, I think, 

 commend the plan to most operators. Thou wilt 

 be able to judge of the result from the inclosed 

 specimen.* I use Canson's paper, either albumen- 

 ized or plain (but the former is far preferable). 

 If albumen is used, I dilute it with an equal mea- 

 sure of water, and add half a grain of conmion salt 

 (chloride of sodium) to each ounce of the mixture. 

 This is applied to the paper with a soft flat brush, 

 and all bubbles removed, by allowing a slender 

 stream of the mixture to flow over its surface : it 

 is then hung up to dry, and afterwards the albu- 

 men is coagulated with a hot iron. If tlie paper 

 is used plain, a solution of common salt (half a 

 grain to one ounce of water) is placed in a shallow 

 tray, and the paper floated on its surface for a 

 minute, and then hung up to dry. Excite, in 

 either case, with an ammonio-nitrate of silver so- 

 lution (twenty grains to one ounce of water), by 

 floating the paper, prepared side downwards, for 

 one minute, and hang up to dry. 



Print tolerably strongly, and the proof will be 

 of a reddish-brown. Fix in tolerably strong solu- 

 t!on of hypo, sodas (I never weigh my hypo., so 

 cannot give the proportion), that either has been 

 in use some time, or else, if new, has been nearly 

 saturated with d arkened chloride of silver. When 



* The specimens forwarded by Mr. PuMPHREr are 

 most satisfactory. — Ed. 



fixed, remove the proofs into another vessel of the 

 same solution of hypo., to which has been added 

 chloride of gold and acetic acid. The way I do 

 this is to dissolve one drachm of chloride of gold 

 in two and a half ounces (1200 minims) of water. 

 Of this I take twenty minims (which will contain 

 one grain Au CI 3) and forty minims of acetic 

 acid (Beaufoy's) lor every dozen proofs (of the 

 size_ of 7 X 9 in.), that I mean to operate on, and 

 having mixed the gold and acetic acid with the 

 solution of hypo., place the proofs in it till they 

 attain the desired colour : they are then to be 

 washed and dried in the usual way. 



Knowing that so cheap and easy a process for 

 obtaining these tints would have been a great 

 boon to me a short time since, I lose no time in 

 communicating this to the readers of " N. & Q." 

 I shall feel a pleasure in explaining the plan more 

 in detail to any photographer who may feel dis- 

 posed to drop me a line. William Pumpheev. 



Osbaldwick, near York. 



3RejjTte^ ta i^iiiar CSiurtc;*. 



Baslterville the Printer (Vol. viii., p. 203.). — 

 In reply to Mr. Elliott's inquiry, I beg to say 

 that Baskerville the printer was merely named as 

 one who had directed his interment in unconse- 

 crated ground. The exact place of his burial was 

 not deemed a point of importance, but it having 

 been questioned, I am able to state that the spot 

 was correctly described by me. Nichols, in his 

 Literary Anecdotes (vol. viii. p. 456.), tells us that 

 " Baskerville was buried in a tomb of masonry, in 

 the shape of a cone, under a windmill in his garden ; 

 on the top of this windmill, after it fell into dis- 

 use, he had erected an urn, and had prepared an 

 inscription," of which Mr. Elliott has given a 

 portion. 



In his will, dated January G, 1773, he directs 

 his body " to be buried in a conical building here- 

 tofore used as a mill, which I have lately raised 

 higher, and painted and prepared for it." It 

 seems somewhat surprising that one, who shocked 

 even John Wilkes as " a terrible infidel," should 

 have printed a most beautiful folio Bible, at an 

 expense of 2000^., and three or more editions of 

 the Book of Common Prayer. Still more, in 

 1762, he tells Walpole that he had a grant from 

 the University of Cambridge to print their 8vo. 

 and 12mo. Common Prayer Books, and that for 

 this privilege he laboured under heavy liabilities 

 to the University. Baskerville doubtless regarded 

 these books with a tradesman's eye, indifferent to 

 the subjects of the works issued from his press, 

 provided they sold. It would, however, be very 

 unjust to this admirable printer to name him 

 without praise for the distinguished beauty of his 

 typography : it was clear and elegant, and he 



