Early Copper Etching Scientific Print - Optics

This wonderful print is in excellent condition, given its age. Please forgive the colour. The close-ups show the true colour of the print. The larger shots seem to have been darkened by the natural light source.

Printed in 1808, this print comes from a publication illustrating the construction and purpose of various scientific instruments and concepts. This wonderfully-illustrated print shows a typical simple camera with single lens, as well as the angles and vertices that are involved. If you can understand those, you're a better mathematician than I, but regardless, they're quite intricate and very attractive, themselves. The gentleman shown is even dressed in period clothing.
The print is a copper etching. This method, used in early production of mass-printed illustrations, had the artist engrave the drawing into a plate of copper. This would then be inked and rolled onto paper or parchment. Copper is a fairly malleable metal, which meant that they could only produce a few hundred prints that slowly pushed the details of the copper engraving out, before the artist had to go over the original engraving to sharpen the image again. Interestingly, although steel plates existed and were able to print thousands of prints before wearing out, copper was favored by artists. It was more delicate and was able to show much more detail. This piece was created by a well-known duo, around the turn of the 19th century - Mutlow and Russell. They produced some of the most beautiful scientific prints I've had the pleasure of seeing. This is no exception, as you can see.
The print is mounted. The print, itself, measures 23 cm x 16 cm. The mount measures 33 cm x 25 cm. There is some slight discolouration, as is expected with 200+ year old paper, but it really just adds to the character of the print.

Ready for framing and admiration, this beautiful print would make a wonderful gift for a photographer or scientist.

As always, should you have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop me a line. I'll be happy to respond by day's end, but usually much sooner.

Thanks for visiting!