A Guide to
Postcard Printing Techniques
INTRODUCTION
Few who are familiar with the glossy all so similar postcards filling shop racks today realize there was once a time when they embodied a wide range of printing techniques beyond the singular photochrome process we’ve come to know. The Golden Age of postcards ran concurrent with radical innovations and changes in the printing industry, and was no doubt fueled in large part by them. The printing methods used at the turn of the 20th century helped create millions upon millions of undistinguished images along with a multitude of cards containing such beauty they must be considered works of art by themselves. On these pages we will explore the evolution of this hidden hand that permitted the postcard craze to come into being, and why this plethora of outstanding techniques eventually disappeared from commercial printing.
Rather than concentrating on any particular medium alone, each of the chapters below revolve around a specific concept and the influence it had on printing technology. This means that the time line progression this guide is not completely linear though some sense of a progression is evident. At times this may be confusing as the specifics of some techniques are discussed in different sections but it is with hope that this more organic approach will ultimately bring about a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. This also means that this guide is more useful if read beginning to end rather than in encyclopedic fashion. Though explanations of technique are made in a fair amount of detail much minutia has been left out as this is not presented as a how to do guide. More precise explanations of important techniques are readily available elsewhere for any who are interested. It must also be noted that an exploration of all printing methods will not be found here as only those that have some baring on postcard production are discussed. Even so nearly every printing method has been used to produce postcards at one time or another, and at no time were more techniques in use simultaneously than during the golden age of postcards. The study of postcards is the perfect way to study the history of commercial printing in general.
It should come to no ones surprise that postcards are not slices of reality, they are made up of ink and paper. This however is too often forgotten as the primary goal of printing is one of creating illusion, one that takes advantage of our tendencies to seek out narrative, symbols, and meaning. Printed images are designed to fool the eye in many ways distracting us from their true nature. Hermann von Helmholtz was one of the first to scientifically study visual perception and discovered that the human eye was not capable of capturing as much stimulus as previously thought. From this he theorized that vision must be the combination of incomplete data and previous personal experiences that create unconscious inferences. This is why birds are attracted to decoys, dogs bark at snowmen, and humans recognize faces and places on scraps of paper that are referred to as postcards. These same tendencies come into play when attempting to determine technique. We must all be wary of our first impressions when looking at postcards for they are not always what they seem to be. On the other hand the mind can interpret nuances that are often difficult to articulate; with experience one can put the obvious clues aside and make judgments from how the card feels to the eye.
The reader should be aware that the nomenclature used to label printmaking techniques is problematic and may vary between references. Names once given to old methods were sometimes changed, and the old name then applied to a newer technique. Other terms have both broad and specific meanings. The European printers that manufactured most postcards had their own terminology that differed from nation to nation, and the same process may even be referred to differently between practitioners in England from those in the United States. Some terms have always been used informally, and with no set definition their meanings have often changed over time. Since portions of this material is also scattered about older parts of this website it is in the process of being re-edited to make the technical terms mentioned here as consistent as possible throughout.
NOTE: The images representing details in this guide are not enlarged by any standard percentage, and the exact percentage has not been noted. Unlike illustrations on a printed page the size you see here will vary with your computer’s settings so absolutes cannot be given. Also be aware that many of these images that attempt to illustrate the fine grain or line of a printing technique are somewhat distorted by having recorded them on a digital scanner and by now presenting them through a digital monitor, all with their own structured patterns of rendition.
Click on the chapter titles below to open new pages.
1. TRADITIONAL PRINTING TECHNIQUES - Part One
Relief and intaglio techniques provided the foundation for the production of many types of postcards. While changing technology would eventually alter the specifics of their application, their overall principals have remained true throughout the years of postcard production. TOPICS INCLUDE: Woodblock Printing, Wood Engraving, Letterpress, Rubber Stamping, Metal Engraving, and Etching.
2. TRADITIONAL PRINTING TECHNIQUES - Part Two
The newly discovered art of lithography would come to dominate the production of color imagery in the form of chromolithography by the end of the 19th century. This versatile medium continued to evolve affecting postcard production more than any other medium. TOPICS INCLUDE: Stenciling, Lithography, and Chromolithography.
3. PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE BLACK ARTS - Part One
The quest to satisfy the public’s great hunger for photographs would become the driving force behind many advancements in traditional printing as well as the impetus for new discoveries. TOPICS INCLUDE: Real Photo Postcards, Rotary Presses, and Collotype.
4. PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE BLACK ARTS - Part Two
Letterpress dominated the printing trades in the 19th century, and finding ways to incorporate visual imagery with it was of paramount importance. No technique did this better than line block printing but its ability to mimic other methods has left it largely unrecognized. TOPICS INCLUDE: Transfer Processes, Shading Mediums, and Line Block.
5. PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE BLACK ARTS - Part Three
While photo-mechanical printing methods offered great promise to the printing trades they were at odds with the latest trends in rotary press construction and reconciliation absorbed much time and effort. TOPICS INCLUDE: Photogravure, Rotogravure, and Photo-Chromolithography.
6. HALFTONES AND HYBRIDS - Part One
The introduction of halftone printing would create a revolution in printing, but advancements in practical color technology came to a standstill at the same time. The temporary solution of creating hybrids from lithography and halftones came to dominate postcard production through the 1930’s. TOPICS INCLUDE: Halftones, Duotones, and Tinted Halftones in Lithography & Line Block.
7. HALFTONES AND HYBRIDS - Part Two
Tinted halftones had largely been made by photomechanical combinations of hand drawn lithography and photographic halftones, but this same methodology was also applied to other processes. TOPICS INCLUDE: Tinted Gravure, Tinted Collotype, Hand Coloring, and Retouching.
8. TRICOLOR AND PROCESS PRINTING - Part One
The long quest to find a printing technique that allowed photographs to be accurately reproduced in natural color and with a minimum of printing plates resulted in the tricolor process. TOPICS INCLUDE: Tricolor Printing and Color Film.
9. TRICOLOR AND PROCESS PRINTING - Part Two
It would take until the 1930’s for color photography and the production of colorants to advance to the point where the tricolor process could reach its potential in process printing. The evolution of this concept was by no means certain as older traditions came into conflict with new technology. TOPICS INCLUDE: Linens, Photochromes, and Offset Lithography.
Though most postcards have always been printed by mainstream methods, there were always publishers that sought out the unconventional to gain better market share. Some of these methods were based on techniques used to create novelty items before the introduction of postcards. TOPICS INCLUDE: Chine Collé, Flexography, Screenprinting, Embossing, Metallic Techniques, and 3D Cards.
11. DIGITAL PRINTING TECHNIQUES
Technological developments in the latter 20th century provided many more printing options but they were often unsuitable for the commercial production of postcards. Some of these were eventually adapted to more conventional methods, and today digital technology is posed to replace all of our learned assumptions about printing. TOPICS INCLUDE: Impact Printing, Laser Printing, Inkjet Printing, and Digital Rotary Techniques.
12. FACSIMILES & IDENTIFICATION
The introduction of various photomechanical printing techniques in the 19th century lead to the ability to reproduce expensive and high status looking images on more cheaply made postcards. Today this often leads to confusion when attempting to identify technique for it is often different from the recognized style. TOPICS INCLUDE: Facsimile Lithography, Facsimile Collotype, Facsimile Line Block, Facsimile Gravure, Real Photo Postcards, and Problems in Identification.
A Timeline of Printing Trends and Inventions
Postcards were printed using many different types of techniques, but some were used in much greater proportions than others. While it is strongly suggested that the links above be used to gain a more comprehensive understanding of these methods within context, cursory explanations of the most common ways that postcards were produced can be found by clicking the links within the chronology below.
1440 The first printing press in Europe to use moveable type is invented and the Letterpress process begins. All sorts of techniques were used to make postcards, and of the many different types of postcards that were printed one of the most common was the tinted halftone, a combination of traditional chromolithography and halftone screen printing. In order to provide a better understanding into postcard production we will take you step by step through the methods by which such a postcard may have been made. The postcard pictured above was printed around 1908 by the Rotograph Company but published by a local business in Mt. Kisco, NY. It depicts a typical small town street lined with shops. One of these shops may have belonged to the publisher or perhaps it is just one of a number of images he produced depicting scenes of the town that he thought customers may like to purchase. In either case production would begin with the shooting of a black & white photograph, taken by the publisher, a local studio photographer, an itinerant photographer passing through town, or by one sent up by the printer. Once this image was chosen for reproduction, a printer was chosen, and it was mailed off with instructions and the fee. A set of instructions would have also accompanied the postcard order, not only in regard to the quantity to be printed but instructions in regard to what was written on the front or back. how the image was to be cropped, what if anything was to be removed, and possibly what colors should go where. While the printing here looks straightforward it is impossible to differentiate the decisions made by the client from that of the production manager. While negatives could be sent to a printer an actual photograph was most often used for that is where the photomechanical process begins. The original photo was re-photographed through a crossline screen placed at a precise distance between it and the camera to in order to create a halftone negative of the proper size. The proper size was that of a postcard as photo emulsions were rather slow at this time so exposures to a plate needed to be made through contact printing. If the original photo was of a different proportion to that of a postcard, decisions would then have to be made as how to mask the image to create a good composition as per mailed in instructions or by the manager at hand. A second negative would also be needed to make a new photograph the same size of the halftone negative, from which the key drawing was made. The style of this postcard was determined by the printing house who produced many similar looking cards of different subjects for different people. By giving cards a consistent look the work flow of a shop held an uninterrupted course while providing the ability to turn out expected results to cliental. Part of this cards style is its pallet, which remains constant for all cards in this series. Three light tints of red, yellow and blue were used with an additional medium red for accent and a black for the halftone detail. Since a litho-stone could only print the one value of the ink used, two stones were needed to print each value of red. Five stones would be used in total, which determined the way the key drawing was made. From the new photo the production manager would carefully trace a key drawing that indicates where the placement of each of the four color should go. Sometimes he had to follow specific instructions of a client but in this case the color placement seems fairly standard. The retoucher assigned to each stone would then make a tracing off of the key drawing of just the one color assigned to him. Before a litho-stone can be used its surface must first be polished down to a fine grain by grinding them with another stone or a heavy metal disk known as a levigator with a metal grit suspended in water in between. A coarse grit is used first to remove the previous image, then this grinding continues with increasingly finer grits until a surface that can accept a fine drawing is achieved. Special care must be taken through this entire process to keep the stone’s surface level and not put any scratches into it as they will print as white lines. The stones to receive color are now ready for drawing but the key-stone that will hold the halftone image must first be photosensitized. A dichromate gelatin solution is mixed and poured over the stone where it is buffed down into an even thin coating. Once dry the halftone negative is placed on top and covered with a sheet of glass to keep both surfaces firmly together. The stone would then be taken from the shop and placed outdoors to be exposed to the sun. At this time many printers simply exposed their negatives to photosensitive gelatin tissue, which was highly portable, and then adhered this tissue to a bare stone with the aid of alcohol. As the choice is one of convenience rather than final look the method used here is not determinable. In either case the parts of the gelatin exposed to light would harden and stick to the stone’s surface like a drawing while the remaining gelatin was washed away. The retouchers with their tracings off the key drawing were now ready to work on their stones. Their tracings were first covered in red chalk and then the drawing was secured to the stone face down. As the lines of the drawing were retraced from the back side, the chalk underneath would transfer to the stone replicating the image in reverse. The image needed to be transferred this way for the stone will print a mirror image of what is placed on it. The retoucher using nibbed pens loaded with a dark greasy liquid tusche would then draw in dots and blots using the contrasting red chalk marks as a guide. Dots were the preferred method of application because they were the least likely to take on any individual characteristics of the retouchers hand. When a number of stones were drawn upon by a different retouchers it was important that they did not impart conflicting personal styles onto the image. This did not mean that each worker was completely interchangeable as some retouchers had specialized abilities. Those who were good at drawing in a sky were typically assigned the blue stone for details such as clouds were rarely ever captured on film at this time and they needed to be made up. Sometimes shading mediums were employed to speed up this type of work but on this card all the marks that provide color were drawn in by hand. As the halftone would provide all the tonal balance within the composition the drawn marks were used exclusively for color. The retoucher has to be highly aware of the areas that needed solid tones as well as those that would optically blend with the dots added onto a different stone. As semi transparent ink was used the different color dots that overlapped would blend into new hues and this had to be carefully considered. All the greens on the card come from the overprinting of yellow with a light blue. The final part of each drawing was the addition of registration marks so that a single sheet of paper could be aligned perfectly with all the images. When the drawings were all finished, they and the stone holding the halftone had to be etched. A measured solution of gum arabic and acid was mixed then poured atop each stone. After it was worked into the image for a few minutes it was buffed down into an even coat and left to dry, sometimes overnight. This etch imparts salt layers into the stone that become highly attractive to water. When the etch is washed off water will only be absorbed into these salty layers that correspond with the non printing areas of the image. The first stone ready for printing was then placed on the bed of a cylinder press. After it is dampened it is rolled with the appropriate oil based color ink, which will only adhere to the dry stone while being repelled from the wet areas. In this manner an exact copy of the original drawing is formed. At this point the image may be checked for flaws and some areas may need to be polished out further. If this is done the stone will have to be re-etched though a localized spot etch may do. Once ready to print, paper is placed over the wet ink carefully aligning the marks placed on its back with the registration marks on the stone. A thin but sturdy tympan is then placed over the paper to protect it, and pressure is applied through a pass under the heavy cylinder to transfer the image. This procedure is then repeated until all the copies needed are printed. While the dampening, inking, and placement of paper could all have been done by hand, most printing presses at this time had additional rollers and sheet feeders added to them to perform these tasks automatically dramatically increasing printing speed. Once the ink had dried the next stone would be placed on the press to print the second color. This was repeated until all five stones were used to complete the image. Now there was the back of the card to consider. Information such as text is most legible when printed in solid tones with sharp edges. Letterpress is the most suitable medium to accomplish this and it was used to print this postcard’s back. While new type was set into a chase for the publishers name and serial number, the other elements standard to a postcards back such as the words Post Card and the Rotograph logo were already cast in line block from a photomechanical transfer of a drawing. The metal line block was then mounted onto a thick wooden block to make it the same hight as the cast type and they were put into the chase together, and then looked in a frame for printing. A different type of press was needed for this job for the surface of the reliefed plate would be rolled with ink and the raised portions would print when pressed into the postcard back. Careful attention still needed to be give to registration for it is in this step that many cards seriously misalign. The title on the front of many postcards would normally be added in the same manner but it wasn’t here. The title was printed with the halftone plate, which indicates it was drawn onto the photograph in ink before the halftone negative was made. After all the printing was finished and the ink was dry, the excess paper was trimmed off. If there were any registration problems between front and back the image would be left intact and the back sacrificed. The finished cards were then packaged and mailed back to the publisher. If manufactured in Germany, order to delivery might take three to five months. The litho-stones would then be reground for the next job. In some cases when a reorder was likely the stones were covered in gum and put into storage. This saved on a lot of prepress work if the image was to be reprinted. Many printers did not have an excess of stones to waste or the room needed to store them so the process would just start from scratch if there was a reorder. This is a major reason for all the variations found on postcards produced from the same photograph. With so much of the process left up to the discretion of individuals it was impossible to reprint an image with consistent results.
1477 The first known printing of an intaglio plate is made for a book.
1764 Full Color woodblock prints begin to be made in Japan.
1797 A method of softening steel is discovered allowing it to be engraved upon for long press runs.
1798 Lithography is invented.
1818 The Jobbing Platen press is invented.
1820 Paper begins to be manufactured in webs for commercial printing.
1825 The first known photograph is made.
1830’ Tinting plates begin to be used in lithography.
1837 Commercial color lithography named Chromolithography begins in Europe.
1838 Stereoscopy is invented.
1839 The properties of photo sensitive gelatin are discovered, which will become the foundation for all photomechanical printing techniques.
1840’s Wood engravings start to be widely used in Xylograpy.
1840 Lithotint, which allows artists to draw with brush or pen in lithography is invented. Electroplating is invented.
1844 The first viable commercial rotary press is patented.
1852 Photolithography is invented.
1854 Photogalvanography to harden casts for printing is patented.
1855 The collotype process is invented but only begins to be used commercially in 1868.
1858 Photogravure is invented.
1860’s The rubber stamp is invented.
1864 Gelatin tissue is patented. The Woodburytype is invented.
1865 Printed decals begin to be used in the United States.
1870’s Chromolithography, collotype, and line block begin to be widely used in commercial printing. Paper begins to be massed produced from wood pulp.
1870 The first commercial typewriter is introduced.
1874 Collotypes begin to be printed in color.
1875 The Photochromie process is invented.
1876 The rotary press is adapted for Flexography.
1877 The first tricolor image is printed.
1878 The Ives process for photomechanical transfer is invented
1879 Benday shading mediums are invented. A way of infusing gelatin tissue with a dot pattern is discovered. Rotogravure is invented but it is not widely used until 1904.
1880’s Multiple tinted lithographs become popular.
1881 Panchromatic black & white film is invented, which will allow color separations to be made through the use of color filters.
1884 The method of using tinted halftones to produce color prints begins.
1886 Chromolithography evolves into photo-chromolithography with the development of the Photochrom process.
1887 The crossline screen for making halftones is perfected.
1890’s Halftones replace Xylography in commercial printing. The tricolor camera is invented.
1891 Anaglyphs are invented.
1892 Linotype begins to replace typesetting. The four color rotary press is invented.
1896 The Collotype process is adapted for use on metal plates so it can be printed on rotary presses.
1899 Photographs begin to be made on heavy stock so they can be used as postcards.
1900 Color woodblocks are used to create illustrated postcards in Japan.
1902 Kodak buys Velox and and photo paper with a postcard back is introduced. The hand coloring of postcards becomes popular.
1903 The Parallax Stereogram is invented.
1904 The first press for Offset lithography is built but the process only becomes widely used after 1951.
1907 Autochrome, the first film to produce color transparencies is put on the market.
1910 The modern form of Rotogravure is developed.
1915 Screen Printing is first used in the United States but it only becomes popular in the late 1930’s.
1920’s Metal plates begin replacing the use of stones in lithography. Stenciling is used as a method of creating postcards in France.
1931 Tricolor prints in the form of Linen postcards are introduced.
1934 Tricolor printing evolves into Process Printing.
1936 Kodachrome color transparency film is introduced and perfected in 1938. The invention of the rubber squeegee makes screen printing commercially viable.
1937 The photocopier is invented.
1951 A viable metal printing plate is developed for use in offset lithography and the process begins to replace letterset printing. The first inkjet printer is introduced.
1953 Finer halftones begin to be created through the invention of contact screens.
1960’s A screenless method of offset lithography is developed.
1964 The Xograph is invented.
1969 The first laser photocopier is built, but not put on the market until 1975.
1970’s Digital scanning begins to replace the line screen for reproducing images.
1971 Email is invented.
1976 The inkjet printer is adapted to digital technology.
1990’s The practice of sending ecards via email becomes popular.
1993 Indigo printing is introduced.
The Printing of a Postcard
