The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-06-23
PAosographing Hooks.

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 A syndicate ot publishers has per iected arrangements that are calculated practically to give monopoly of the bUsiness of reproducing here Euro- pean books. The nance of the syndi, cate arc kept secret at present, but it is expected they will soon be known by the stupendous surprises they pro- pose to flash upon their business ri- vals The syndicate has made a three years contract with company con. trolling . process for reproducing books for all they can do in that time, and the company is fitting up an ex- pensive plant for the carrying out ot the work at IS Reade street. No other work Is to be done during that time for any other persons than those belonging to the syndicate, and 1t is understood that if the publishers had had their way about 1t they would have made the contract for ten years instead of three.
 It is asserted that the .fdc simt2s plates ready for printing can bc made by the company at Sl cents a square inch, and could be profitably fnr- nished as low as one cent square inch. One of the company, Mir. Penfold, says "The amount of matter that compositor would charge six dollars for setting we can furnish, blocked and ready for the press, at a profit, for fifty cents."
 In general way the process is un. derstood by many, but the especial features that mako it valuable are secrets carefully guarded by the three gentlemen who constitute the Hollis Prototype company. As tar as they are willing to make 1t known 1t Is as follows:
 The instant that book for repro. duction is put into their hands 1t is ripped apart and its pages are put in fixed places before half dozen cam. eras simultaneously operated. No time Is lost in focusing, and the mak. ing of negatives of the pages is mat ter of only a few moments. Each negative Is transferred to a transpar- ent rubber film, which Is stripped from the glass and used to print from, after which 1t Is laid away, like sheet of paper, and can be kept h. Infinitely. The printing is done upon heavy sheets of gelatine, from one thirty second to one- sixteenth of an inch thick, prepared with bicronate of potash and other chemicals. Ten pages are thus reproduced at once upon each sheet Of gelatine, and, as there Is space on the roof for laying out at once forty 0; these sheets !u their printing frames, one hour of sunshine will give 400 pages printed on the gelatine. The portions Of the gelatine upon which the light has not acted are easily washed out with brushes and warm water, leaving the letters, pictures, or other photo graphed images In bold relief, and only six to eight hours are required to dry the plates perfectly. The plates thus prepared are blocked to type height, and 1t Is affirmed as many as 100000 clear impressions can be made from them, If they are not touched by water or subjected to ex- cessive heat. Their relief is equal to that of ordinary type at least, and the outlines are sharp. Engravers are ready to carefully overlook and re- pair each plate should spot appear in which the printing has been dcfec- tive, but so cheap Is the work of re- production that If 1t is found that more than five minutes will bc needed to make plate perfect it is simply tossed aside and new one Is made in its stead.
 It is evident that important details are missing from this general recital of the process, but those are the secrets of the gentlemen who do the work, and their security against rivalry. Enough has been told to demonstrate how cheaply and rapidly the work can be done, and to show how purely mechanical Is the whole business, that 1t will cost no more by 1t 10 reproduce 6 psge or agate or Of ruie ani figure work than page of two-liDe pica, which would not be the same in type setting, and that 1t will be just as cIieap to reproduce in this way the finest editions de ture" of European works ss the commonest "penny dreadfuls." Furthermore, 1t k averred that any printed with type in the original can bc perfectly reproduced, no matter how delicate they may be, for no more cost than plain type.
 
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