WHATMAN'S PAPER FOR PRINTING.
Whatman's drawing or water-color paper is a very pure paper, and may be sensitized and used for photographic prints. The process is quite simple. Dissolve 75 grains of chloride of ammonium in 1 quart of water, filter through cotton or filtering-paper, and soak the paper in this solution for three minutes, or until it is thoroughly saturated; then lay it on a clean flat surface to dry, using care in handling so as to avoid stretching or tearing. This process is called "salting the paper." The sensitizing solution is prepared as follows: Dissolve ¾ oz. of nitrate of silver in 8 oz. of water. Take two-thirds of this solution, and precipitate the silver by adding strong ammonia water drop by drop. This will cause the solution to turn brown. Continue adding the ammonia till this brown precipitate is dissolved and the solution becomes clear again. As soon as it clears, turn in the rest of the silver solution which contains no ammonia. The mixture will again become discolored, and must be cleared by adding a few drops of acetic acid. Filter and place in a glass-stoppered bottle.
Fasten a sheet of the salted paper to a flat board, and with a soft wide brush apply the solution, brushing first one way of the paper and then the other. Brush very lightly so as not to roughen the paper. The solution must be applied by gas or lamp light, and the paper dried in the dark. When dry it is ready for printing. The prints should be deeper than those made on aristo-paper. Tone in any good combined bath. The following formula may be used; and is also suitable for any mat-surface paper: Dissolve 1 oz. of hypo in 6 oz. of water, and filter. Dissolve 7½ grains of pure trichloride of gold in 1 oz. of water. Add this gold solution drop by drop to the hypo solution, shaking the mixture frequently during the operation. This is a stock solution. To prepare the toning bath take 1½ oz. of this stock solution and mix it with 7½ oz. of a ten-per-cent. solution of hypo. (A ten-per-cent. solution is made by dissolving 1 oz. of hypo in 9 oz. of water.)
Place the prints in this bath without previous washing, and tone to the desired color. Almost any tone from reddish-brown to black may be obtained, the tone depending on the length of the time the print is left in the toning bath. Wash well and pin on a flat board, and set the board in an upright position till the prints are dry. The paper is of sufficient weight not to require mounting, and the paper should be cut large enough to leave a wide margin all round the print. For a 4 by 5 picture cut the paper 8 by 10 inches. In printing, the paper—except where the picture is to appear—should be covered. Take a piece of opaque paper the size of the sensitized sheet, and cut an opening in the centre a little smaller than the negative from which the print is to be made, and print the picture through this opening.
Another way to shield the paper from the light is to cut a square of paper the size desired for the finished print. Paste this lightly in the centre of a sheet of plain glass, and paint all the clear glass with Strauss's marl or Gihon's opaque. When the paste is dry remove the paper, and print through the clear glass in the centre.
Pictures made on Whatman's paper are not common, as few amateurs know how to make them, but the process is very easy. The paper can be sensitized with any of the solutions used for making tinted prints, directions for which have recently been given. A collection of fine prints made on Whatman's paper, using papers of different tints, is always much admired, and well repays one for the extra labor required to prepare the paper.
Sir Knight Arthur F. Atkinson, 1711 I Street, Sacramento, Cal., who is president of the Niepce Chapter of the Round Table, a chapter devoted to the interests of amateur photographers, has sent out circulars to all the members asking their co-operation in reorganizing the chapter. This chapter has been very active, and has been a great help to its members. It should not be allowed to disband, and the charter members will gladly welcome any members of the Camera Club to its membership who will help to sustain the chapter. Send names and addresses to the president. The editor of this column is an associate member of the Niepce chapter, and hopes to see it as large and flourishing as formerly.
Sir Knight Howard Whipple, N.D., asks for a formula for making a toning-bath out of dentists' scrap-gold. Sir Howard will find his answer in No. 868 of the Round Table.
Sir Knight Richard P. M'Coun asks how to prepare paper for printing, and if the soda developer can be used over after the pyro has been added. Directions for preparing sensitive paper are given in this number. The developer should be thrown away after using, unless one is going to develop in a day or two. The developer works very slowly after having been once used, though it is useful in starting development when the exposure is over-timed.
Sir Knight Burt Tuck asks if there is any remedy for over-exposed negatives. See No. 821 of the Round Table for treatment of over-exposed plates.
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.
A bill was introduced late in the session of the Congress which has just adjourned proposing to allow business-men to send out circulars or letters, with return envelopes, on which prepayment shall not be compulsory, but may be collected of the firm sending them out when returned to them. It is claimed that the postal revenues would be increased $30,000,000 per year. Probably the bill will be heard from next winter. Senator Cullom proposed that the printing of the postage-stamps be transferred to one of the bank-note companies. This would be a move in the right direction, as the government manufacture of the present issue has not been a success.
O. H. Schell.—The ordinary English stamps were printed in sheets of 240. Each, stamp was different as far as the letters were concerned. The first stamp on the sheet bore A. B. in the upper corners, B. A. in the lower corners. The second stamp, A. C. in the upper, C. A. in the lower corners, etc. The second row bore B. A. in the upper, A. B. in the lower corners, etc.
H. D. Graham.—The line under the word "Postage" in the Hartford die of the centennial envelope is single. In the Philadelphia die it is double. All revenue stamps and stamped papers are collected by philatelists who make a specialty of this branch. U. S. Locals and Telegraphs are largely collected. I never saw a Postage Due U.S. in blue. I presume you have an essay of proof color. Did you take it off of a letter?
W. T. Fenner.—The comparative worth of cancelled and uncancelled stamps varies, but as a rule the unused stamps are worth much more. In some instances, however, where large quantities were printed and only a few used, the proportion is the other way. A set of Postage Due U.S. of the current issue is worth face value only.
F. A. R.—The 3c. blue U. S. is 1869 issue, worth 1c. used, 15c. unused. The green centennial envelope is worth 25c.
R. Brehmer, 15 High Street, Rutland, Vt., wishes to exchange stamps, especially with foreign collectors.
E. R. Beere.—A Mexican dollar has more silver than an American dollar, but is worth only half as much. The 1806 half-cent is worth 15c.
E. W. Keifer.—The 1895 U.S. silver dollar is worth face only. The usual custom among numismatists is to obtain the fresh coins directly from the mint through a Philadelphia agent.
E. Hall.—Never cut a pair or a strip of unperforated stamps. They are worth more together than singly.
Tom C.—All the low values U.S. issued during the last ten or twelve years can be bought of any dealer at twice face value, with the exception of a few rare shades. The dealers at present have a full supply, and many smaller post-offices still have quantities on hand. Probably in ten years or so dealers will have sold the bulk of these common stamps (at constantly increasing prices), and will then be glad to buy the same stamps back at much more than they sold them for. Age has nothing to do with value. You can buy Roman copper coins nearly two thousand years old at 10c. or 15c. each.
H. M. Kaisinger.—This Stamp Department has been a feature of Harper's Round Table since December 19, 1893.
J. P. Johnson.—The 1804 cent is worth $4; the 1804 half-cent is worth 15c.
S. Mulhall.—Your stamp is an India Revenue, not collected in this country. The only exceptions are those revenue stamps surcharged "Service Postage," and used for postage in 1867. The surcharge is in green ink. The values of the four varieties are, ½ anna, $3; 2 annas, $12; 4 annas, $25; 8 annas, $75.
J. O. Hall.—The 6 kr. Würtemberg 1858 issue, unused, is worth $300; used, 40c. The 1859 one is 9 kr.—used, 10c.; unused, $100.
W. W. Jones.—The philatelic button can be bought of C. W. Kissenger, Box 236, Reading, Pa.
S. Manning.—French colonial stamps bear the name of the colony in which they are used. Among the colonies are several in Africa and Madagascar. Why so many varieties are made it is impossible to say, but probably the profit in selling to collectors was taken into account by the French government. Oesterreich is Austria.
Philatus.
A garb of white well typifies
The purity that inward lies.
So Ivory's whiteness doth express
That pure clean soap brings cleanliness.
Copyrighted, 1896, by The Proctor & Gamble Co., Cin'ti.
You get what
you ask for
if on the face and back of each card of the famous DeLONG Hooks and Eyes you find the words:
See that