Hectography

Hectography is a printing process that involves transfer of an original, prepared with special inks, to a pan of gelatin or a gelatin pad pulled tight on a metal frame. A machine employing this process is a hectograph, also known as a gelatin duplicator or jellygraph.

Hectography is a printing process that involves transfer of an original, prepared with special inks, to a pan of gelatin or a gelatin pad pulled tight on a metal frame. A machine employing this process is a hectograph, also known as a gelatin duplicator or jellygraph.

Storage

A grey-colored, thick, absorbent paper pad was supplied to cover the gelatin surface for storage. This also removed ink from the surface, but it took many hours to do so. Care needed to be taken that the gelatin surface was kept clean, and not damaged (e.g. by fingernails) during duplicating. Although the name hectograph implies production of 100 copies, in reality the gelatin process produced print runs of somewhere between 20 and 80 copies, depending upon the skill of the user and the quality of the original. At least eight different colors of hectographic ink were available at one time, but purple was the most popular because of its density and contrast.

Historical uses

Hectography dates from the 1860s. The process, requiring limited technology and leaving few traces behind, has proven useful both in low-technology environments and in clandestine circumstances where discretion is necessary. In the early 20th century the process lent itself to small runs of school-classroom test papers, church newsletters and science-fiction fanzines. Prisoners of war at Stalag Luft III (the scene of The Great Escape) and at Colditz Castle during World War II used an improvised hectograph to reproduce documents for a planned escape attempt. The Communist authorities in the Jiangsu–Anhui Border Area of China used the process for postage stamps in November 1948, produced in sheets of 35, with thirteen $50 values, six $100, twelve $200, two $300 and two $500 values. Hectography has also served, though not very extensively, as an artistic medium in printmaking. The Russian Futurists used it for book illustrations, and the German expressionist Emil Nolde made four hectographs. Stephen King, in his book On Writing, recalls how he and his elder brother Dave used the process to create their newspaper, Dave's Rag. Hectography also emerged in professional situations; in Macy's advertising department during the 1950s and 1960s, full-page newspaper-ad layouts were drawn with hectograph pencils and then duplicated on a hectograph to make file copies for future reference. Before the popularization of spirit duplicators and the mimeograph, there were mechanized hectography machines that used a drum rather than a simple flat tray of gelatin.

See also

Spirit duplicator Duplicating machines List of duplicating processes

References

External links

The Scientific American Cyclopedia of Receipts, Notes and Queries (1901) p. 261 Instructions and recipes for making a hektograph.

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