Norwich bulletin., 1913-02-13
PRESENTED TO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Portrait of David A. Wells Given by His Daughter aw Mrs. Msrretta AIcroft of England Ozias Dodge Spoke Upon the Graphic Arts-Valuable Loan Collection From New York Exhibition

KnOWn III the history Ol tuS SoFCA II ment, namely, that of special com, missioner of revenue of the United States" was created, in which MT. Wells served with distinction.
 All agree, however, in according to him a high rank as an author and a deep thinker and his fame as such extends beyond the boundaries Of our own country. may well be proud of all four of her presidents.
 c. A. Williams of New London was the third, and the fourth Is our pres ent honored Ernest Rogers.
 I will add in closing that the so- cfety was never in better condition, never so ably managed as at the pres ent time.
 And very much of encouragement and support have come from the wem- en of this county.
 I feel sure that I express not only the sentiment of members of this so- ciety. but also those of every person present, in sending to Mrs Al1croft our united thanks for her gift-the portrait of our honored citizen-the fate David A Wells.
 The Graphic Arts.
 President Rogers then called upon MT. Dodge for a talk on The Graphic Arts.
 MT Dodge said that he had decided to speak upon the side of the graphic arts which was the most interesting to him, an on which he was best informed the processes and methods of mak-s ing the engravings.
 It would be well at the start, he said, to divide all printing into three classes -intaglio surfaces, or those in which all the linked portions to be printed are held in lines or dots below the main surface, such as line engravingS, etch- >ings, mezzotints aquatfnts, etc. Sec ond, relieve surfaces. where all DOT tions printed are above the main sur face, as ordinary type on the printed page. wood engravings, and the ma iority of all modern printed pictures, like half tones and line blocks. Third, one surface only, the ink to be print ed resting on the surface that also supports the paper printed, as all lith- ographic work.
 Explained by Charts.
 MT. Dodge showed a. chart on which the various processes were classified, and then proceeded to explain the methods and characteristics of each
 A part of MT. Dodge's talk which proved most interesting had to do with his own experience in engraving He said, in part
 About IS years ago I was greatly interested in making drawings on stone, and printing them on little hand press myself I learned the art abroad and from poor Frenchman whom found stranded in the great city because I suppose he really knew too much to be of use to the great American Autographs Trust com pany.
 The ease with which the drawing is made the look of the original pen cil strokes that are preserved in the hthographic print. and the range from the softest and most delicate shade to the deepest black, was what faSc1nat- ed me, and so, when I took to invent ing my first attempt was to do the same thing on copper, for copper is better than stone to5print from, for the reasons have already pointed out. Etchines Like Original Pencil Draw
 inss.
 There are some of my etchings made by this process on the walls. and prints from intagio plates, they LOOK like original pencil drawings
 They are made with pencil on special transparent paper, which was essential to the carrying out of the process, so invented that also
 I had a definite ideal when I was working this method out, and that was to preserve as far as possible the first strokes. the real intention of the artist
 l. After five years hard work, should say. looking back on it now, l had an idea also that it might revive intaglio printing, which is after all the most beautiful way of printing, for it is
  making an intaglio plate
 Instead, it has become commercial and is used for relief cut making ex- tensive1y.
 The main original thought in this invention was that l reversed all pre- vious methods of getting incised or lntaglfo lines in a, plate by acid and with a tool
 This I did by building up new cop per 'eIectrolitically deposited all around the lines It is curious that it had not been thought of, considering all the efforts thas have been made in the last four hundred years to get lines down into copper.
 .. The method is really very simple. The lines of the drawing are trans ferred to a perfectly clean copper pIa te, and these lines refuse the cop per that rapidly forms on the plate in the .eiectrolitic bath The result IS, as in all engaved plates, a groove rep resenting the line to hold the ink in printing with this difference-the old face of the copper is at the bottom of the groove
 MT. Dodge was compimented on his excellent address and all took much sinteres tin the exhibit.
 About a dozen New London members of the society were included in the at tendance.
 Contributions for Maintenance Fund.
 In connection with the raising of an endowment fund to defra5r the ex- pensees of maintaining the society's home in New London--the Shaw man. sion-a contribution of $25 was report ed from w. A Chester of Boston, and an interesting letter from him was read.
 meeting consisted of H, A. Tirrell, Jo- nathan sTrumbull and L. o. Smith. HoifSE DEMOCRATS