les ornements en bleu et en rouge rentrent si parfaitement 
les uns dans les autres; l’examen attentif qu’en fit 
M. Congréve lui fit découvrir qwune pareille régularité 
ne pouvait étre obtenue par des impressions successives, 
et que le tout avait da étre imprimé d’un seul coup de 
presse au moyen de deux parties gravées s¢parément et 
s'adaptant lune dans l’autre aprés avoir été couvertes 
séparément, lune de l’encre bleu, autre de l’encre 
rouge. C’est aussi de cette maniére qu’on procéde 
maintenant dans l’impression a la maniére Congréve.25 
Compound printing was a cheap process to work 
provided that a long run of prints was wanted, for 
the blocks were tough and hard wearing and could be 
kept in endless supply by casting from the originals. 
Apart from cheapness, there were two particular 
advantages for the ticket- and label-printing trades. 
Any part of the design which might have to be 
changed, such as the title, the date, the number of 
lottery prizes, or the grade of ticket, could be engraved 
on a separate piece of metal and taken out and 
changed as necessary without altering the rest of the 
block. This principle was already familiar in a 
simpler form in the “pierced block’? which had been 
part of the job-printer’s stock-in-trade since the 18th 
century. For this, an engraved wood block had 
28 Translated, this reads: ‘“The famous printer, Mr. Bensley, 
once showed to Mr. Congreve as a rare phenomenon of 
printing the Psalter’s first large B, with the blue and red 
ornaments fitting so perfectly into one another. Mr. Congreve 
examined it carefully and was convinced that such precision 
could not have been produced by successive impressions. It 
must all have been printed at a single pull of the press, using 
two parts which were fitted into each other after being engraved 
and inked separately, one in blue and one in red ink. This 
is the same as the methcd used today in the Congreve process.” 
J. H. H. Hamann, Des arts graphiques (Paris and Geneva, 1857), 
p- 112. 
holes cut through where names or numbers were to 
appear, and these names were engraved on separate 
fitting blocks and inserted into the holes. 
As a second advantage to Congreve’s process, it was 
extremely difficult to make a good forgery of a 
compound print without the equipment for casting, 
which ordinary forgers were unlikely to have. Some 
of the ream labels were very roughly printed, but 
it was still immediately obvious that they were 
genuine from the exact registration of the engraving 
through the different colors. Besides these two 
practical advantages, the prints looked attractive 
whether they were gay for the lottery bills, formal for 
the official seals, or rich and splendid for the corona- 
tion tickets. 
In the 19th century Congreve’s prints were com- 
monplace. They were found in everyday use on 
posters, tickets, book wrappers, labels, and bank 
notes. The process came to be so well accepted in its 
role of protector against forgery that sometimes the 
typical compound design, rather than the peculiar 
details of printing, was taken as a sign of authenticity. 
Then, when the process was superseded by a more 
modern one, the old design was carried over to the 
new process although, of course, it no longer repre- 
sented any actual security. Figures 20 and 21 showa 
late 19th-century paper-manufacturer’s label, printed 
lithographically, and the official paper seal of the 
1820s that served as model. In the same way the 
recent “Stephens’ Ink” label (figure 16) is a close 
copy of the 19th-century one (figure 15). Compound 
prints themselves had no more collectors’ value in 
their own time than bus tickets or match folders have 
today. Asa result, they are now extremely hard to 
find. But it is not unusual to see modern designs, 
like those illustrated, derived 
compound-printed prototypes. 
which are from 
PAPER 71: SIR WILLIAM CONGREVE AND HIS COMPOUND-PLATE PRINTING 87 
