2Q;2 BLOCK PRINTING, &C. 



cliche for an impression thus made. The fabrication of assig' 



nats, or rather the lamentable necessity of reproducing them 



without end, was in some degree the creating cause of the art 



of taking metallic impressions {de clicher), which does not seem 



at the first view to be of any great importance ; but it is in 



reality capable of being applied with advantage to several arts, 



and particularly to those connected with the arts of design. 



Improved by j,|_ Darcet, the son of the celebrated chemist, in formincr a 



M. Darcet. ,, . . . „ '^ 



collection of nnpressions from engraved gems, has just carried 



this art to a great extent. From an object of amusement, for 

 which he at first began to employ it, he has applied it to the 

 manufactory of paper-hangings, and even of printed cottons, of 

 ornamental furniture, of artificial flowers, and in short of every 

 thing that taste or industry would decorate. It is easy to 

 conceive how much expence may be saved by taking impres- 

 sions of engravings already executed instead of making new 

 ones. 

 Its uses. The following is an account of the advantages, which Mr« 



Darcet expects from his process, as exhibited in the accurate 

 report delivered by him to the society. 

 For blocks for " In the manufacture of paper-hangings and printed goods, 

 and^printed""'' ^^ pattern is printed by means of wooden blocks ; and these, 

 goods. though cut in a coarse manner and at a moderate price, ap- 



peared to me capable of having their place in part supplied by 

 the processes of metallic impression (clichage). My trials 

 were successful ; and the various specimens laid before the as- 

 sembly, show that this art may be carried to a great extent, 

 and cannot fail to produce beneficial results if pursued by 

 expert hands: in fact, all that is requisite is to model in wax or 

 plaster of Paris the ornament we would multiply, and to obtain 

 from it as many matrices, and consequently as many metallic 

 stamps as the block is required to contain. 

 Capable of " This process is particularly applicable to blocks in which 



forming a num- ^]^g same ornament is repeated several times. It has likewise 



bet of patterns „ , . ■ . ,., 



by varying the advantage of furnishmg very speedily a great number of 



the combina- separate pieces, which may afterward be combined in a great 



same figures, variety of ways, to form at a very trifling expence, a number 



of patterns differing from each other. 



In printing " I am aware, that in many cases it will be more advanta- 



cahcos the geous to cut wooden blocks for paper-hangings ; and I appre- 



mordants nasly 



hend 



