1878.] to tJie Reproduction of Maps and TJavs. 50 



might have been expected, partly on account of defects inherent in photo- 

 graphic copying, and only to be overcome by great skill and long experience 

 on the part of the photographer, and partly owing to the difficulty of 

 making draughtsmen fully understand the requirements to be fulfilled when 

 preparing maps to be reproduced by photography for publication, in order to 

 produce satisfactory results, and that they must strictly refrain from using 

 colour and draw the map neatly in black and white, so that every line may 

 be reproduced of its proper strength, according as the map is to be copied 

 on the same scale as the original or to be reduced. 



It matters little how roughly drawn or highly coloured an original 

 drawing or map may be, if it is intended to lithograph or engrave it, because 

 a skilled lithographer or engraver can easily put it into proper and conven- 

 tional form ; but when such a drawing is handed to the photographer he 

 can only produce a facsimile of it with all its deficiencies — the coloured 

 details hidden under a black mass of shade, the finer parts perhaps wanting 

 altogether, the writing rough and broken, or so small as to be almost 

 invisible, besides other defects caused by the unsuitableness of the draw- 

 ing for reproduction by photography, and these defects are liable to be 

 unduly attributed to the process. 



These difficulties were felt in all their force when it was first deter- 

 mined to introduce photozincography for the publication of the maps of 

 the Imperial Indian Surveys, because till that time these maps had been 

 drawn in a very delicate, highly finished style, with many of the details on 

 them coloured and the hill features shown by brush shading. It was 

 soon seen that an entire change of style was necessary and that the original 

 maps prepared specially for photographic re^^roduction, must be drawn in 

 pen and ink lines alone, without colour or brush-shading. It was some 

 time before the desired results were obtained, but after several years' 

 experience a high degree of excellence has been attained in the prepara- 

 tion of original maps suitable for photographic reproduction, and now all 

 maps of the above Surveys and most of the miscellaneous maps and 

 drawings received from other departments are drawn wdth this object. 



The change of style has been regretted by some as spoiling the beauty 

 and finish of the maps, and the want of colour certainly has some draw- 

 backs, but there can be no doubt that the necessity for drawing the origi- 

 nal maps so that they may be fit for immediate publication has effected 

 here, as it has also been found to do wherever photozincography or photo- 

 lithography has been introduced, an immense improvement in the style of 

 drawing of the manuscript maps as well as in the accurate delineation of the 

 ground. The photozincographed copies as a rule appear somewhat coarse 

 and rough when compared with good lithographs or engravings, but they 

 possess the great advantage of being produced quickly and chea2)ly ; while 



