Visual analysis on the chemical conservation treatment effect on historic lithographic inks

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Master’s Thesis

University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam

MSc Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Book and Paper Specialization

2020

Visual analysis on the chemical conservation treatment effect on historic

lithographic inks

Student: Fenna Engelke, 12046264

Thesis supervisor: Ellen Jansen (UvA)

Second reader: dr. Herman den Otter (UvA)

External advisors: Birgit Reissland (RCE) and prof. dr. Maarten van Bommel (UvA)

Module coordinator: dr. Maartje Stols-Witlox (UvA)

Cover Image: The cover image was taken with a Dino-lite 3.0. This is the after-treatment image of sample piece A3. The image was taken at 63x magnification, 16.2 cm from the bottom of sample, 0.5 cm from right edge. Image code A_3_AT_3b.

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ABSTRACT

The master’s thesis ‘Visual analysis on the chemical conservation treatment effect on historic lithographic inks’ (August 2020) was written by Fenna Engelke for the University of Amsterdam’s MSc in Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, book and paper specialization. The work uses historical research and historic print samples to test the resilience of black lithographic inks to immersive conservation treatments.

SAMENVATTING

De masterscriptie ‘Visual analysis on the chemical conservation treatment effect on historic lithographic inks’(Augustus 2020) is geschreven door Fenna Engelke, student Conservering en Restauratie van Boek en Papier aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Door middel van historisch onderzoek en monsters van historische prenten wordt het effect van natte chemische behandelingen op zwarte lithografie inkt getest.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been possible without a huge supportive force behind it. In the face of many of the closures due to the covid pandemic, much of this thesis had to be reworked and much of the resulting success is due to the assistance of others. A great amount of thanks and appreciation goes to Bas van Velzen, the book and paper lecturer for my master’s studies, who not only assisted in the formation of the idea behind this thesis but also provided the prints used here as well as much of the equipment used. A significant amount of thanks and appreciation goes to Ellen Jansen, who dedicated much of her time to supervise this thesis's writing and without whom my thesis and thought process would still be in shambles. Thank you also to Maartje Stols-Witlox as coordinator for the master’s thesis module for supporting us during what must have been one of the most chaotic thesis modules ever seen. A heartfelt thank you to Elizabet Nijhoff Asser and Femke Prinsen for all their teaching and mentorship during my master’s studies. Thank you to Dionysia Christoforou for reviewing the early drafts of the first three chapters of this thesis and pointing out some of the more apparent oversights I had made. A great thanks to the Rijksmuseum, especially Idelette van Leeuwen who made it possible for me to examine the van Oort’s prints. Thank you to Aafke Weller for allowing me to use her unpublished work on chloramine-t and its use at the Rijksmuseum. Thank you to the external advisors Maarten van Bommel and to Birgit Reissland of the RCE. Additional thank you to Ella Hendricks for her help during the initial thesis topic meetings. Thank you also to Herman den Otter for becoming the second reader of this thesis.

Many thanks go to my classmates who assisted and supported me during this thesis module. A great thanks to Rahul Sharma, who is essentially the only reason I could get any UV or UV

reflectance photos for this thesis. Edith Steen and Rahul Sharma deserve thanks for their great amount of social support during such a chaotic time, acting as a soundboard for thesis ideas while also making sure that I was fed several times a week. Thank you to Lieve Meulenbeld and Godelieve van der Randen for their assistance with my thesis abstract. Thank you to my fellow book and paper classmates: Cynthia Lam, Lieve Meulenbeld, Maria Montcalm, Margot Terpstra, Godelieve van der Randen, and Mirelle Zacharis. So much of my gratitude and admiration goes to my fellow book and paper conservation students as the past two years in this program would not have been as pleasant without them, especially during the writing of this thesis. A thank you also to all students in my year studying other conservation specializations: Emma Egberts, Suk Fong Chun, Maxx Folmer, Valentina Gatto, Annmarie Hollants, Karien Slijpen, Jasmijn Krol, Cynthia Lam, Tessa Maillette de Buy

Wenniger, Lucas Mantel, Esther Ng, Rahul Sharma, Ella Solomon, Edith Steen, Sterre van der Weerd, and Welmoed Kreb. All of my classmates have been supportive and gracious with their assistance in the past few years, making my studies at UvA a fulfilling one.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of my friends and family not associated with my studies at the University of Amsterdam. Many friends took their time to walk with me or have regular calls with me during the pandemic shut down, sometimes acting as my only social interaction during those days. Some supported me by forming virtual working groups over video calls and even sending me care packages to encourage me. Thank you also to my friends at the Harry Ransom Center. The HRC was my first conservation placement, and my mentors continue to act as a constant source of support as I navigate my way through this small but rewarding field. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to my family members who I am often thinking about during my studies and who continuously support me even in my moments of doubt. My ability to pursue this field of study would not be possible without their love and support.

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TERMS

Collotype - Photomechanical process to create prints from a photo negative. The mechanism behind collotypes is the same mechanism behind lithography, and use oil-based ink to print the image. Collotypes fall under the category of lithographic processes but will not be the focus in this paper. Flatbed Lithography, Hand Lithography - indicating a lithographic print created on a flatbed press and in a direct manner, as opposed to an non-direct offset rotary press. The matrix of a flatbed lithographic print can be either stone or a metal plate. Often done by hand on a lithographic printing press.

Maleic Resins - Maleic resins are rosins that have been modified using maleic anhydride to affect their solubility and acidity. They are used in a wide variety of modern inks. 1

Printing Matrix - The stone, plate, screen, or woodblock used in printing, depending on the method of printing it refers to. The printing matrix is what creates the impression of an image onto the substrate. In the case of lithography, the printing matrix can be either a lithographic stone or lithographic plate. Offset Lithography

Plate - metal plates created from zinc or aluminum, used as printing matrixes for lithographic printing. Stone - used in stone lithography, the stones used are made of limestone and traditionally sourced from Solnhofen or Pappenheim in Bavaria. Lithography stones are valued for their ability to accept both grease and water easily.

Varnish vs Vehicle – Depending on the source, these terms are used to describe the non-pigment portion of the ink; I will be using the term vehicle due to the fact that varnish has so many other meanings and can be easily confused. The vehicle of the ink acts to deliver the pigment to the print so I find this term more fitting. One definition from Ruxton: "Varnish, as used in the printing ink trade has two general meanings- first, linseed oil which has been heated at or near its flash point, with or without permitting it to take fire; and second, the whole body of all the vehicle, or media which carry the pigments, even including the driers." Finley defines the vehicle of the ink as the liquid port of the 2

ink and notes that it is sometimes referred to as varnish. Finley notes that this term is often used with varying meaning; sometimes the varnish is the ink minus the solvent, resin, and drying oils, and sometimes referring to all of it. For this reason, I will be using Finley's definition of vehicle as the 3

non-colorant portion of the ink.

Varnish - many sources use the term varnish to refer to the first part of Ruxton’s definition “linseed oil which has been heated at or near its flash point, with or without permitting it to take fire.” Unless otherwise specified, I will attempt to only use the term varnish in this context.

1_{Robert H. Leach, The Printing Ink Manual, 4th ed. (United States: Springer US, 1988), 219-224 .} 2_{Ruxton, Printing Inks, 9.}

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INTRODUCTION

0.1: Introduction

In the practice of conservation on prints, the printing ink is generally considered to be

relatively inert during treatment. However, is this assumption as true as suspected? Some research into this topic has been made decades past but has focused on black relief and intaglio inks. This thesis focuses on black lithographic inks and the potential effect that conservation treatments have on the lithographic printing ink. The first half of this thesis consists of a material and historical review of lithographic printing inks. The second half of the thesis outlines the treatment and examination of print samples and the results. Several historic lithographic prints are used to create samples that are subjected to four different conservation treatments. The treatments chosen include: washing by a demineralized water bath, a 50:50 ethanol:water bath, a 1.5% hydrogen peroxide bleaching, and a 2% chloramine-t bleaching. The prints are examined before and after the treatments, and any differences, or lack, are noted here within this research.

The research and experimentation outlined here can be done with minimal resources and can likely be repeated even without access to university level equipment. This was done intentionally as a way to adapt to the closures and restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. This thesis’s original intent included the creation of inks via historical recipes and scientific analysis through the

Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Nevertheless, it was recognized that this research’s new methodology had to be one that could be achieved with few resources and still maintain a level of repeatability and universal applicability. For that reason, the thesis is dependent on textual research, individual observation, and photography to make its conclusions.

The subject of this thesis is not necessarily new. Some of the effects of conservation treatment on printing inks have been previously investigated. However, much of that research has been done on the subject of intaglio and relief ink. Patricia Dacus Hamm’s ‘A history of the manufacture of printing ink from 1500-1900 with notes for the conservator.’ written in 1992 is one such source and was a catalyst for this research. Within the article, Hamm takes several typographical and intaglio inks creating drop-down samples and subjecting them to several chemical treatments before assessing them with SEM-EDX. The inks used are created using historic ink recipes, though not much information on these reconstructed inks is given. The topic and method are similar to what was intended here within this thesis before adapting to world circumstances. Since the work on Hamm and other literature focuses on relief and intaglio inks, it was decided to shed similar light on black

lithographic inks. The decision to study black lithographic inks allowed for a narrower research focus and a potential starting point for further research on the topic. Additionally, using black lithographic ink allowed for more possible sample materials. As this research uses historical prints as sample material, it was simpler to find black ink lithographs that could be donated and essentially destroyed to create samples.

Ideally, the combination of textual research with sample testing will allow conservators to learn more about the printing ink they are conserving. Historical context can allow for more informed conservation treatments, and the testing done here can reassure and confirm assumed knowledge.

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0.2: Research Questions

❖ Are lithographic printing inks as inert to conservation treatment as suspected? ➢ What is the effect of chemical treatments on lithographic inks? ➢ How do bleaches affect the lithographic ink during a treatment? ➢ How does washing a print affect the print?

❖ Is it possible to create a timeline of the development of lithographic printing inks? ➢ How do ink ingredients change over time?

➢ Do the changes of ingredients in the lithographic inks correlate to effects from conservation treatment?

❖ How do lithographic inks react to chemical treatments, and does the time period of the print play a part in how it is affected?

0.3: Relevance

Printed materials make up a vast amount of the objects which book and paper conservators treat every year. It is often taken at face value that printing inks are stable and safe to be treated by quite a variety of materials and solvents. This topic has been looked into before with relief and intaglio inks, but literature looking into the effect of chemical treatment of lithographic inks is not vast. Evidence of change due to chemical treatment would be enlightening and could assist in the decision-making process when faced with a lithographic print. Alternatively, results give more information about what to look for when identifying if a print has been previously treated. Additionally, results showing that no effect is caused by chemical conservation treatment is also welcome as it confirms the assumed knowledge on the inks, and it allows for more confident treatment decisions going forward. 0.4: Research Goal

One of the main research goals for this thesis is to address the assumed knowledge on the stability of lithographic printing inks. Additionally, this will be done using visual analysis while still utilizing resources that are accessible to researchers who do not have scientific analytic methods available to them. The testing and historical context provided are aimed to assist in potential future decision making when presented with the treatment of lithographic prints.

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CHAPTER I: AN INTRODUCTION TO PRINTING INKS

1.1: Introduction

Before examining the effect of conservation treatment on printing inks, there first needs to be an understanding of what printing inks are and what components they are made of. Because this thesis focuses on lithographic inks, there also needs to be an understanding of how they differ and relate to other printing inks. The following chapter outlines this information, though is not a comprehensive review. While researching this topic, it became apparent that there are issues concerning terminology in the literature on printing inks and on lithographic inks specifically. To avoid confusion, especially if additional information is sought from the bibliographic literature, this chapter will also address some of the issues in terminology which were found while researching the subject.

1.2: A technical breakdown of printing inks

Printing inks can be broken up into several components. The labeling of these components differs depending on the source. Helmut Kipphan, author of the Handbook of Print Media Technologies and

Production Methods , divides the components of printing inks into four categories: Colorants, 4

Vehicles, Additives, and Carrier Substances. The table Kipphan uses in his work (Fig.1) shows his division of ink components as he defines them. Finley’s Printing Paper and Ink divides printing inks into two components: Colorant and Vehicle. The colorants create the desired color of the ink and the 5

term vehicle is used to refer to the liquid portion of the ink which carries them. This ‘vehicle’ 6

contains all the components with exception of the colorants. Both examples are given as ways to understand printing inks, but Finley’s model will be the one deferred to within this thesis as it is a simple way to explain and introduce the subject.

The literature referred to here, along with the Leach’s The Printing Ink Manual , are all 7 modern publications on the current ink manufacturing industry. They concern themselves with the current printing inks which are industrially manufactured and include: offset lithography, gravure, flexographic, typographic, and ink jet inks. For this reason, the breakdown of ink components seen in these writings and reflected here can seem complicated due to the many possible ingredients that need to be accounted for within the variety of inks they address. The printing inks of today have many more ingredients and means of productions than the historical ink recipes seen in the 18th and 19th centuries which will be addressed in the historical review of lithographic inks. The reason for addressing this issue is that Finley's division when explaining the potential components in printing inks makes a distinction between solvent and oil. Finely described solvents as the ‘liquid part’ of the ink, however, it is often the processed oil which fills this role in early lithographic inks, as will be seen in Chapter 2.

4_{Helmut Kipphan, Handbook of Print Media: Technologies and Production Methods (Berlin: Springer, 2001).} 5_{Robert H. Leach, The Printing Ink Manual, 5th ed (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999), 5. I should}

note that this is also the way ink is described in Leach’s work as well.

6_{Charles Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , (Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers,1997), 222.}

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Figure 1. Helmut Kipphan’s table, showing his division of printing ink components. Kipphan, Helmut. Handbook of Print Media: Technologies and Production Methods . Berlin: Springer 2001. 131, Figure 1.5-9: Composition of Printing Inks.

The colorants in inks can either be dyes, pigments, or lakes. For printing inks, the colorants are typically pigments. Pigments can be organic or inorganic and are solid particles that do not 8

dissolve into the vehicle but instead are dispersed. This differs from dye colorants, which are soluble. Dyes are typically brighter than pigments but are not as durable. Dyes can be made into solid particles by precipitating the dye with a binder, usually a metallic salt. These dyes made into solid pigments are called lakes and typically also show problems in durability. The durability and quality of pigments make them ideal for printing inks. Pigments used in modern ink production have particle sizes around 0.2-1µm, while historic pigment particles are often found to be larger as many were ground by hand. 9

The pigment content within printing inks can vary between 5% to 30% depending on their intended

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use. This thesis focuses on black inks, and traditional black pigments consist of either carbon black 11

(also called lampblack) or bone black, which are still used as pigments in inks today.

8_{Kipphan, Helmut, Handbook of Print Media: Technologies and Production Methods (Berlin: Springer 2001),}

131.

9_{Kipphan, Handbook of Print Media, 131.}

10_{Gueli, A.M., Bonfiglio, G., Pasquale, S. and Troja, S.O., “Effect of particle size on pigments colour.” Color}

Research and Application, 42 (2017): 236-243, doi:10.1002/col.22062.

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The vehicle of the ink is composed of the other ink ingredients and determines all of the ink’s properties outside of its color. An ink’s vehicle can contain binding resins, solvents, oils, and

additives.

Binding Resins act to bind the pigment particles to the substrate as well as to one another. Binders are resins which are solid compounds which must be dissolved into the ink. Rosin based 12

binders are the most common, but other resins include cellulosics, or cellulose-based resins, and cyclized rubber. Synthetic resins are also used and include acrylic resins, vinyls, maleic resins, 13

polyamides, and epoxies. Resins not only act as binders but can also affect an ink’s drying rate, rub resistance, gloss, and flexibility. 14

Solvents are defined by Finely as the liquid portion of the printing ink formula, which must perform several functions for the ink to be successful. The solvent acts to dissolve the resin but cannot cause the pigment to bleed. Solvents need to evaporate at a suitable rate but can also affect the flow and adhesion of the resulting inks. Solvents can be alcohols, oils, oil derivatives, or even water. Water-based inks, while historically being some of the first printing inks, have had a resurgence in modern industrial ink making in recent decades due to environmental concerns. As noted earlier, oils 15

are traditionally used as the ‘liquid portion’ in early printing inks, including lithographic inks. Oils used in printing inks can typically be divided based on their drying mechanism between non-drying oils, like mineral oils, and drying oils, which are vegetable oils like linseed oils and tung oil. The modern ink manufacturing industry makes a further distinction between the oils and 16

typically divides them between non-drying oils, drying oils, semi-drying oils, and quick-set inks. Inks that use non-drying oils depend on the absorbency of the paper to dry. These non-drying oils are often low in cost and chosen for large print runs. Drying oils, instead, oxidize and begin to polymerize when they dry. As the oils dry, they become rigid, which can prevent ink smearing. 17

The two other oils used in printing inks, semi-dry oils and quick-set inks, act similarly to drying oils. Although given their distinction, the mechanism they use to dry is the same as drying oils, but at different rates. Semi-dry oils oxidize as they dry but at a much slower pace than the oils

categorized as typical drying oils. The most commonly used semi-drying oil used in inks today is soya oil, created from soy. It should be noted that setting and drying when referring to inks are two 18

different concepts. Quick-set inks are used in offset lithographic and typographic printing as an ink which will set quickly to allow quick printing but will still need time to oxidize before being completely dry. These inks enable the prints to be created and stacked quickly without smearing but would still smear if abraded before the oil can fully oxidize. 19

Additives are added to inks to adjust the ink further as needed. Additives include driers, waxes, anti-skimming agents, wetting agents, and stiffening agents. Driers act as their name implies. They are used in combination with drying oils and act as a catalyst to speed up the drying process. The most common driers are cobalt and manganese. Waxes are added to ink as additional rub resistance. Anti-skimming agents are sometimes added to inks with drying oils, as uneven oxidation of the ink can create a skin on the top. The addition of anti-skimming agents is added to prevent this skimming. Wetting agents are added to reduce a vehicle’s surface tension for it to access the pigments

12_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 225-6.} 13_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 225.} 14_{Leach, The Printing Ink Manual , 218.} 15_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 226-7.} 16_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 227-8.} 17_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 288-9.} 18_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 230.} 19_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 229.}

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more efficiently, which can also affect the flow of the ink, lowering the ink’s viscosity. Stiffening agents achieve the opposite, increasing the ink’s viscosity. 20

1.3: The lithographic printing process

The differences in printing inks and printing ink ingredients spawn from the different needs of each printmaking process. Because the printing processes themselves differ in their mechanics, the printing inks used must also be designed accordingly. In early printing inks, these differences may not be as noticeable, but as the field of ink manufacturing developed, so too did the distinctions between printing inks as well as the possible ingredients used. As ink manufacturing increased and

industrialized, the specificity and accuracy used to create a printing ink have increased.

To understand lithographic ink, attention should be given in how the lithographic process differs from other printmaking methods. Finley’s Printing Paper and Ink describes lithography as a chemical printing process as opposed to relief, intaglio, and screen printing, which are physical printing processes. This difference in terminology is there to point out that processes like that of 21

relief, intaglio, and serigraphy, print by relying on a physical difference in the printed and non-printed areas of a matrix. Meanwhile, the differences between inked and uninked areas of a lithographic plate are flat, thus planographic, and the contrast of these areas in lithography is caused by chemical differences on the matrix’s surface.

Lithography works by utilizing the principle that oil and water will not stick to one another. To make this work, the printing matrix, traditionally a lithographic stone, must be processed and treated to be successfully printed. To begin this process, the image has to be drawn onto the stone either directly or transferred on. A greasy material, usually a lithographic tusche or lithographic crayon, is used to create the image. This drawing then needs to be processed. This step is also called ‘etching’ the stone, although this term is not entirely accurate as no real etching occurs compared to intaglio plate etching. The stone, with its drawing, is covered with several passes of nitric acid and gum arabic. This procedure creates a film on the stone which rejects any new greasy materials. The 22

drawing on the stone is also affected by this treatment but in another way. While the original drawing is still soluble in water, the gum and acid application reacts with the soap in the drawing materials, hardening the drawing and making it insoluble in water. This process creates two chemically 23

different areas of the stone and will subsequently create a printable image.

During the printing process, the lithographic stone or plate is first given a pass of a sponge full of water before the ink roller can roll onto the matrix and deposit ink onto the image areas. The paper is placed over the inked image and, when using a scraper press, is printed by the pressure of the press’ scraper bar, forcing the ink onto the paper (See Fig. 2 & 3 for the process and scraper bar method). Due to this printing mechanism, the amount of ink needed to sit in the processed areas to create a clean image is much less than the amount of ink required for a relief or intaglio print.

20_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 231-5.} 21_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 288.}

22_{Nitric acid is not the only acid that can be used here but is considered the most effective. For more}

possibilities see Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking: History and Process , 215-7.

23_{Saff and Sacilotto, Printmaking: History and Process, 215. This explanation of the entire etching and}

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Figure 2. A simplified but effective graphic showing the general methodology behind lithographic printmaking from a stone plate. From: Fons van der Linden, De grafische technieken (de Bildt: Cantecleer) 1980, 165.

Figure 3. An illustration of the printing method used by a scraper-bar lithographic press. From: Jan Poortenaar, Van prenten en platen , 4th ed. (Naarden: In den Tooren) 1948, 14.

Due to the inks’ history and development, relief, intaglio, and lithographic inks often have many similarities. The three types of inks are all paste inks, meaning that they have a high viscosity. Alternatively, flexographic and gravure inks are both processes requiring a quick printing pace and fast application to the matrix, so these inks are considered liquid inks and are very fluid. These 24

relief, intaglio, and lithographic inks are also all inks which use vegetable oils, which are drying oils, that depend on oxidation for their drying method. Traditionally, the primary oil used in creating these inks was linseed oil, with nut oil occasionally seen in early recipes for relief and intaglio inks. 25

Recipes throughout the nineteenth century of intaglio, relief, and lithographic inks all use similar ingredients.Lampblack was traditionally the pigment used in these paste inks, excluding intaglio inks, which had many early recipes calling for Frankfort black, a pigment created from burning vines. 26

24_{Finley, Printing Paper and Ink , 290-302.}

25_{Bloy, Colin H, A History of Printing Ink, Balls and Rollers, 1440-1850 (London: Wynkyn de Worde Society)}

1991, 109-110.

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Between relief, intaglio, and lithographic inks, the lithographic process requires the least amount of ink to transfer onto the substrate. 27

In addition to the complexities of manufactured lithographic inks, artists and master printers who use manufactured lithographic inks will modify the ink with other colors or lithographic varnishes to create a better consistency or address problems in the printing process. Colored lithographic inks may be added to black ink to give the black a different desired tone. Lithographic varnishes can be added to the ink to create a softer ink, which may roll up faster and allow for more ink to deposit onto the image area. To make a stiffer ink, printmakers may add magnesium carbonate or talc to the ink. This is not an exclusive occurrence in modern direct lithographic printing but also 28

noted in historical sources as printers often have to edit their inks to best suit the desired printed work. It should be noted that the proofing process is often the time where the inks are tested and edited to address printing issues. For this reason, the properties of the ink on an early proof print may differ from the properties of an editioned print, as the printer may have added materials to the ink during the proofing process.

Inks can also be edited in the course of printing an edition. It is possible for the water used in the process to affect the ink and cause it to emulsify, creating a short and rubber-like ink that does not distribute well. Additional editing can be made to the ink in reaction to ‘scumming’. Scumming can 29

occur during the printing process, a phenomenon where the roller's ink will begin to build up on non-image areas of the matrix. This issue can be caused due to a variety of reasons but can be addressed by the printer mid-print production. This can be addressed by either treating the printing matrix or editing the ink by adding magnesium carbonate or additional varnish. 30

1.4: Difficulties in terminology of lithographic inks

It should be noted that lithographic inks used for direct lithography differ from lithographic inks used for offset lithography. This can be confusing when looking into modern ink manufacturing literature as the term ‘lithographic ink’ might be used to mean offset lithographic ink. Offset lithographic printing operates differently from traditional stone or plate lithography, which uses a scraper-bar based press or a direct rotary press. In the offset printing process, the lithographic plate never actually touches the paper; instead, a rotary press is used. The ink offsets onto a rubber roller before the ink transfers to the paper (Fig. 4). Offset inks very often have a high pigment content, between 10% to 30%. The binding agents are usually a combination of hard resin, alkyd resin, vegetable oil, mineral oil, and drying agents. Offset inks need a high viscosity to be successful. Offset inks often have 31

chemical driers added to them, causing them to dry far too quickly to use in hand lithography. Additionally, the amount of ink needed for a hand lithographic print requires a thicker deposit of ink than that of offset, though compared to other printing methods, both lithographic inks layers are very thin. 32

27_{See Leach, The Printing Ink Manual , 76-7, for ‘Table 2.1 Main characteristics of the printing processes.’} 28_{Antreasian, The Tamarind Book of Lithography , 111. Antreasian mentions the addition of magnesium}

carbonate. The addition of talc is personal experience; it was advice given and used while a printmaking student to increase the amount of magnesium to the ink in order to reduce scumming.

29_{Antreasian, The Tamarind Book of Lithography , 108.}

30_{Donald Saff and Deli Sacilotto, Printmaking: History and Process (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,}

1978), 267-8.

31_{Kipphan, Handbook of Print Media, 137.}

32_{Saff, Printmaking: History and Process , 268. See Leach, The Printing Ink Manual , 76-7, for ‘Table 2.1 Main}

characteristics of the printing processes,’ which lists some of the ink film thicknesses of some of the more industrialized printing methods. Direct lithography is not listed but the film thickness of offset lithography is

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Figure 4. Showing a diagram of a three-cylinder press which is not commonly used currently but shows the most basic setup for an offset lithographic press. Here the p stands for the plate cylinder, the b is for the blanket cylinder, and the i is for the impression cylinder. Modern presses have a series of dampening rolls and inking rollers in addition to the cylinders seen here. Robert H. Leach, The Printing Ink Manual, 5th ed (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999), 19, Fig. 2.7.

Additional confusion is possible when the term ‘lithographic ink’ is used to refer to the tusche or ink, which the artist uses to draw onto a lithographic stone to get an ink wash appearance in the lithographic image. This ink is not used for printing but rather to create the image on the stone. These drawing inks and drawing crayons used in image creation are made using wax, soap, tallow, and shellac. Traditionally, these materials would be created by the artist themselves, but today lithographic drawing materials can be bought by manufacturers. There are various recipes for these drawing crayons and litho drawing inks that artists have used, but it goes beyond this research’s scope. The 33

term ‘varnish’ can assist in identifying a lithographic printing ink from a drawing ink. When

Senefelder used the term, he referred to prepared linseed oil that has been burned down to the desired viscosity but has not yet had other ingredients added. Later sources maintain that a lithographic 34

varnish is a boil linseed oil that comes in various thicknesses and that some lesser quality varnishes use resin to produce the desired consistency and substitute boiling time. If a lithographic ink recipe 35

includes varnish, it is likely a printing ink. 36

Roll-up ink is similar to touche in that it is used to prepare the litho stone but not for the printing. Applied after the image has been drawn and the stone has been processed, roll-up ink is used to secure the stone’s imagery. Technically it is an ink used in lithography, but it is typically not used on the prints. Roll-up inks are noted to be softer than the lithographic ink one would use for creating 37

a print. These inks are high in grease content, containing additional wax, tallow, or oleic acids to make them ideal in building up the image for the printing ink. 38

given as <2µ, screen printing ink is listed as <30µ, and intaglio ink is given as <30µ. After flexographic inks (listed as 0.75-2µ), offset lithography has the thinnest ink film.

33_{For more methods of drawing imagery onto a lithographic matrix, see Saff, Printmaking: History and}

Process, 225-38. For early recipes, see Senefelder, Senefelder on Lithography: The Classic 1819 Treatise , 114-28.

34_{Senefelder, Alois, Senefelder on Lithography: The Classic 1819 Treatise (Dover Publications, 2013), 130.} 35_{Rhodes, The art of lithography, 31.}

36_{Rhodes, The art of lithography , 144-7. There is a section here where ‘ Varnishing’ refers to a coating given or}

material added to the ink which is made of varnish in a spirit. This is a bit different from the previous terms but the literature here still uses ‘varnish’ for the prepared oil, so the statement still stands.

37_{Antreasian and Adams, The Tamarind Book of Lithography , 313. “typically” because the source noted here}

indicates that using a roll-up ink as a printing ink is possible after modification “with small amounts of varnish”.

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1.5: Conclusion

As seen, printing inks contain multiple ingredients and all with their uses. The needs of the printing process dictate the specific ingredients used. While relief, intaglio, and lithographic inks are similar due to their history and status as paste inks, their printing processes mean that they vary. This is especially important to note when looking at a print created by direct lithography vs offset lithography. It is important to note that though these are both planographic processes, they are not made with the same aim in mind. Once there is a basic understanding of the factors involved in creating printing inks, it becomes easier to understand the prints they are used to create. The next step to applying this knowledge to an object is to learn about the historical context of these various

ingredients. The literature reviewed here is modern and therefore refers to many components that have only been used in inks within the last century. To know what sort of ingredients are used in a print, we need to address these inks’ history.

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CHAPTER II: HISTORY OF LITHOGRAPHY &

LITHOGRAPHIC INKS

2.1: Introduction

The ink used to create a lithographic print differs depending on the period in which the image was made.If a print date is known, historical knowledge of lithographic ink can provide more insight into the media and what potential issues may be faced while treating the print. For this reason, a historical overview, both of lithography in general and of lithographic ink expressly, is provided here. A

timeline is also given as a faster method of accessing these dates. The history of lithography allows us to understand why certain advances in the ink industry happened, the trends, and how the printing industry changed. The lithographic process’s history is necessary to understand before reviewing the history of the ink, which is dependent on its use by lithographic printers and on the advances of technology over time.

2.2: History of Lithography

The development of lithographic inks cannot be discussed before first reviewing the history of the lithographic printmaking process. Alois Senefelder discovered lithography in 1796 in Bavaria. Senefelder was an actor, turned playwright, turned printer who had initially found interest in printing to more cheaply print theater plays. He had initially intended to use local Bavarian stone to create prints in an engraving method. Through many experiments and only after many failed attempts, 39

Senefelder instead discovered what we now know as lithography. Senefelder received a 15 year patent on the process in 1799 and spent the rest of his life promoting the lithographic printing process. His ventures in promoting his invention were fraught with false starts and temporary partnerships.

Senefelder would find initial success with applying lithography to the reproduction of sheet music and printing of calico textiles, where the hand-drawn aspect of lithography worked well. Senefelder 40

wrote about the process in his publication Vollständiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerey, which was published in 1818, which explained the printing method and contained the recipes he used.

The 1830s saw the emergence of chromolithography. Senefelder had experimented with color printing in lithography early on, producing some colored prints in 1809. Others would produce early color lithographs as well. However, printer Godefroy Englemann detailed the chromolithographic 41

process in 1837, creating a registration system and using the primary colors to build a complete chromatic range. English lithographer Charles Joseph Hullmandel created another 42

chromolithographic method in 1839 by using layers of color tints instead of the primary color method. Chromolithography uses multiple stones to create layers of colors, varying from four to a dozen

43

39_{Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Joseph Pennell, Lithography and lithographers: some chapters in the history of}

the art (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1915), 13.

40_{Pennell, Lithography and lithographers , 17-8.}

41_{John Ross, Clare Romano, and Tim Ross, The Complete Printmaker: Techniques, Traditions, Innovations}

(1990), 205 . “Josef Lanzedelly with Peter Fendi in Vienna, around 1819-1823, and by Franz Weishaupt in Munich, in 1825.”

42_{Saff, Printmaking: History and Process, 186.}

43_{Phillip Dennis Cate, Sinclair Hitchings, and André Mellerio, The color revolution: color lithography in}

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layers, typically including a black layer to add shade and contrast. By the 1850s chromolithography was being utilized as a cheaper method to create mass printed media. However, due to

chromolithography’s beginning in the printing industry, it was not easily available for individual artist use. Initially, it had a negative association as something used only for art reproductions rather than original works. It isn’t until the late 19th century that artists began to utilize lithography more 44

frequently to create printed imagery. An 1881 change in French law on the posting of poster advertisements, alongside the lithographic process's artistic capabilities, led to the acceptance of chromolithographic posters as works of art worthy of collectors. The sizes of lithographic 45

advertisement posters also increased, some spanning 2 to 3 meters in length. In the 1870s and 80s, 46

many artist lithographs were done mostly in black and white, not embracing chromolithographs' full capabilities as advertisers were at the time. It was the 1890s and turn of the century when artists truly embraced color lithography, and when the print culture in France became it’s most popular and well known.

Around this time, the idea of the ‘painter-printmaker,’ visual artists who painted and made their own prints became popular. Typically, artists would create an image and turn to master 47

printmakers to create reproductions under their supervision as prints were often an essential method of making money for artists. This is true even today as visual artists will work with a master printmaker to create screenprints or lithographs for mass sales. This idea of artist-printmakers became popular at this time and would see fluctuating popularity in the future. In the cases where artists employed master printers for their editions, it is important to remember the printer and their expertise, which is often forgotten in favor of the artist.

With the onset of photography in the 19th century, it was only a matter of time before

photosensitive materials made their way into printing and formed the beginnings of photolithography. To create a photolithograph, the lithographic stone is coated in a photosensitive material and exposed with a negative to light. The exposed areas harden and can accept ink while the unexposed areas wash away. Alongside the photolithographic printing was the creation of the collotype in the 1850s. By creating a photosensitive matrix with a dichromate-sensitive gelatine layer, a photo negative can be exposed onto the plate and treated to create a lithographic printing plate with a photographic image. 48

While the popularity and techniques of direct lithography advanced, it was not the most widely used printing method. Lithography found its calling in producing sheet music, maps, and images, with few books being printed in a fully lithographic manner. Instead, typographic relief printing was much more suited to printing written material than lithography. This would change, however, with the development of offset lithography. 49

The development of offset lithography came from a combination of inventions and improvements from various printing fields. The rotary press of 1843 was created to increase

typographic print production but was soon adapted for the use of lithography with zinc plates. Almost

44_{Cate, The color revolution , 3.} 45_{Cate, The color revolution , 10-12.} 46_{Cate, The color revolution , 13.} 47_{Cate, The color revolution , 21-2.}

48_{Dusan C. Stulik and Art Kaplan, The Atlas of Analytical Signatures of Photographic Processes: Collotype}

(Los Angeles, CA: Getty Conservation Institute, 2013), 5,

https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/atlas_collotype.pdf. Stulik and Kaplan note that the inks used to print collotypes are similar to the inks used in hand lithographic printing, where stiffness of the ink is valued. Additionally, printers of collotypes use one or two inks of varying consistency in their printing, also similar to lithographic printing inks.

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as soon as stone lithography was introduced, Senefelder and many who later adapted to lithography had started experimenting with zinc plates and aluminum plates, as substitutes for the heavy lithographic stones. In the case of offset lithography, the benefit of using metal plates was not just their lightness but their ability to conform the plates into a cylinder for use on a rotary press. Before offset lithography was introduced for printing paper objects, Robert Barclay adapted the rotary press for the use of offset printing onto tin sheets in 1875 by using a roller covered in glazed cardboard as the offset roller. In 1903, American printer Ira Washington Rubel had printed on a rotary press when 50

a mistake in feeding paper into the press resulted in the inked plate offsetting onto a rubber roller before printing on the paper. The resulting print was found to have a better impression and without the rough texture that the plate would form when it came in contact with the printing paper. The technique of offset lithography was quickly picked up as it was cheaper and outperformed the direct flatbed lithography method, which lost its popularity after the 1930s. One 1924 edition of the American 51

National Lithographer stated it quite clearly, “Quite a number of high class type printing houses in

this country have recently installed offset presses. They have discovered that with the offset lithograph press they can do better work for less money than they can possibly turn out with the old-fashioned ﬂat bed type press...The offset press is living up to the prediction we made several years ago. Then we said that within ten years every lithographer in the country would be operating offset presses. That was less than ten years ago and to-day practically every lithographer has adopted the rubber blanket system of lithographing.” 52

The post-war period would bring about new changes in the printing field just as it had for many industries. One of the developments was the advent of the packaging industry in the 1950s, which would cause a new subset of industry in printing, particularly for offset lithography. Printing for packaging has become the highest demand for offset printing companies today, making up most of the printing industry’s clientele. Additional developments in printing technology in the 1950s would improve the publishing and magazine printing industry. 53

Direct hand lithography was still in use by artists throughout the twentieth century, kept aloft by various print workshops catering to artists. However, it was not as popular as it once was at the turn of the century. In the United States, it wasn’t until the 1960s that a revival of lithography

occurred amongst artists. Much of the credit for the revival is given to the establishment of Universal Limited Art Editions in Long Island by Tatyana Griseman in 1957 and the Tamarind Lithography Workshop by June Wayne in 1960. These lithographic workshops acted to spread the interest in 54

lithography to artists of the time. In the case of Tamarind, they trained many additional lithographic print masters who would go on to found their own print shops throughout North America. Tamarind would publish their own work on the lithographic process, T he Tamarind Book of Lithography: Art &

Techniques, in 1971. This publication and several others would all be published in the 1970s and

become staple literature in many lithographic workshops. 55

50_{Stanley Sacharow, Aaron L. Brody, and Roger C. Griffin, Principles of Package Development . (Netherlands:}

Springer Netherlands, 2012) 4.

51_{Leach, The Printing Ink Manual , 4. It should be said that along with the decline of direct lithography came the}

decline of lithographic stones as a matrix, printers instead used zinc and aluminum plates.

52_{“Quality Printing,” National Lithographer v. 30, No. 1 (1923): 37.} 53_{Leach, The Printing Ink Manual , 5.}

54_{Saff, Printmaking: History and Process , 206.}

55_{See, Garo Z. Antreasian and Clinton Adams, The Tamarind Book of Lithography: Art & Techniques (Los}

Angeles: Tamarind Lithography Workshop, 1971,) as well as, Donald Saff and Deli Sacilotto, Printmaking: History and Process (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978), both written as a result of the booming interest in lithography in North America during this time.

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Today, direct lithography is still practiced by artists and master printmakers, with only some newspaper publishers still using the direct method to publish on a large scale. The current direct 56

lithographic workshops and university print studios can source their inks from various ink companies that specialize in hand lithographic ink and cater to this small printing community.

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2.3: History of Lithographic Inks

As the creator of the process, Senefelder also made his own inks to go along with his new printing method. However, it should be noted that the ingredients or techniques that Senefelder used in creating inks were not novel or new. Much of Senefelder’s recipes and subsequent lithographic ink recipes in the 19th century had their foundation in the method of making relief and intaglio inks. To understand the reasoning behind Senefelder and other lithographic recipes, the history of relief and intaglio inks must be reviewed.

Oil-based relief inks have their own origins in oil paints, which became popular in the 15th century. One of the earliest printing ink recipes we have comes from a manuscript dating from the 57

15th century and credited to a Flemish author and physician De Ketham. This recipe was used for 58

printing on textiles and mentioned some of the common practices that we see in later relief, intaglio, and lithographic printing inks. This includes the burning of linseed oil, resin use, the use of ink driers, and the use of a pigment very similar to what is later referred to as Frankfurt Black, created from burning vine branches. Another early practice seen in relief and intaglio recipes is the practice of 59

adding onion or bread into the burning oil. The method is mentioned in this intaglio ink recipe from 1645, “There are some who boyle an onion, or a crust of bread in the oyle, to render it (as they thinke) the less greasie.” While the purpose and usefulness of this practice are often debated, recipes 60

continue to cite it. Eventually, the practice is abandoned, but it is relevant here because it makes its way into early lithographic recipes. 61

57_{I specify oil-based relief inks here because water-based inks had been used for printing before oil-based inks.} 58_{Charles L. Eastlake. 1847. Materials for a history of oil painting . (London: Longman, Brown, Green and}

Longmans, 1847) 284-6. Eastlake is referring to De Ketham’s treatises in the manuscript Sloane 345 in

possession of the British Library but has a transcription and translation in his footnotes which is cited here. Bloy also cites this recipe in his publication and lists it as ‘Recipe 6’, see Bloy, A History of Printing Ink, 100.

59_{Eastlake, Materials for a history of oil painting , 284-6. “To temper all colours. — Take one lb. of linseed oil}

or nut oil, the older the better, half an oz. of mastic, half an oz. of copperas, two drams of frankincense, one oz. of [white] resin, two oz. of pale red lead of 160; a these being pulverised, mix all together. The oil should be first placed on the fire and suffered to boil, then the above - mentioned substances are to be added and stirred continually with a stick to which some cloth is affixed; this stirring and boiling should last two hours; and, in order to try the mixture with black or any other colour, take two parts of linseed oil and the third part from the ingredients above mentioned out of the vessel, with or without measure; and if the cloth [to be printed] be old or thin, add more of the com position from the vessel, otherwise the colour would run: but if the cloth be new and thick the proportion indicated is sufficient. You can then fill your prints with it if you think the colour black enough; but if the burnt black [which you have mixed with it] should not be deep enough, you can take vine branches and burn them in a pot till they are charred ; then grind them with water and place them on a piece of chalk to dry. Add a sufficient quantity of this to the burnt black to make the impressions distinct. And all other colours, green or red, yellow or blue, are, in like manner, to be first ground with water only and suffered to dry; then they are to be tempered with oil and with the ingredients from the vessel above mentioned. And in winter, when the colour will not dry in well, grind a little copperas with it, then it will dry thoroughly. Item, cloth should be glazed with a glazing stone; all cloth intended to be tinted should be so prepared.” Bloy notes that the copperas mentioned here is zinc sulphate and that the zinc sulphate and red lead are used as ink driers. See Bloy, A History of Printing Ink, 12.

60_{Bloy, A History of Printing Ink, 101-2. The recipe is numbered as Recipe No. 9 in Bloy. The recipe quoted}

here is by Abraham Bosse from 1645 and the translation quoted here was done by John Evelyn in 1906.

61_{Bloy, A History of Printing Ink, 111. Listed as Recipe No. 31 in Bloy. One recipe in question is from}

Raucourt, and Charles Joseph Hullmandel, A manual of lithography; or, Memoir on the lithographical experiments made in Paris, at the Royal School of the Roads and Bridges: clearly explaining the whole art, as well as all the accidents that may happen in printing, and the different methods of avoiding them (London: Rodwell and Martin:1821) 19-21. Another is Recipe No. 44 Bloy, A History of Printing Ink, 115-6, written in Bautz’ Dir Lithographie from 1836. Also seen in recipes from Brégeaut, L.-R., Jules Desportes, and Edouard