What Philately Teaches | Page 8

it is on the surface and everything else is cut away. Hence, the term "surface printing." This form of engraving is also called _��pargn��_ engraving, because the parts of the plate which bear the design are _��pargn��_ (preserved.)
The dies for typographical plates are cut in wood or steel, usually the former. They are reproduced by two methods, stereotyping and electrotyping. In the former process casts of the die are taken in papier mach�� or plaster of Paris. From these casts other casts are taken in type-metal. A sufficient number of these casts are clamped together or fastened to a backing of wood and thus form a plate. This process is not much used for stamps. It may interest you to know that most of our large newspapers employ this process. The type-set forms are, of course, flat. From them papier mach�� impressions are taken and bent into a curve, so that the casts made from them will fit the cylinders of the printing presses.
In electrotyping, an impression is taken from the die in wax or gutta percha. The surface of this impression is coated with powdered plumbago. It is placed in a solution of sulphate of copper and, by the action of a galvanic battery, a thin shell of copper is deposited on it. This shell is backed with type-metal and is then ready for use. A number of these elecrotypes may be fastened together and electrotyped in one piece.
There is also a photographic process for making typographical dies. This is said to be used in making the stamps of France and her colonies.
[Illustration: Clich�� with two stamps, "Colombia", 5 cents]
[Illustration: Clich�� with two stamps, "Colonies de l'Empire Fran?ais", 10 c.]
Stereotypes or electrotypes of single stamps are called _clich��s_. In making up a plate it sometimes happens that a _clich��_ is placed upside down. The result, after printing, is a stamp in that position. This is called a _t��te b��che_. We illustrate here such a stamp and another which is semi _t��te b��che_, i.e., turned half around instead of being entirely inverted. Like all oddities these are prized by stamp collectors.
[Illustration: Stamp Arrangement, "Newfoundland", 3 pence]
The triangular stamps of the Cape of Good Hope and New Foundland are so arranged in the plate that half of them are _t��te b��che_ to the other half. The same is true of the stamps of Grenada of the issue of 1883.
[Illustration: Stamp, "Hawaiian Postage", 5 cents]
[Illustration: Stamp, "Petersburg, Virgina", 5 cents]
[Illustration: Stamp, "Eranco en Guadalajara", 2 reales]
[Illustration: Stamp, "Ile de la R��union", 15 centimes]
Another form of typography is found in stamps which are composed of printer's type and ornaments. These are usually called "type-set", to distinguish them from stamps produced by the normal process of typography. Stamps made in this manner are often of a high degree of rarity, having been produced in remote parts of the world, where facilities were limited and the use of stamps restricted. To this class belong the stamps of the first issues of British Guiana, Hawaii and Reunion, which rank among the greatest philatelic rarities. We show you here a number of type-set stamps. The first was used in the Hawaiian Islands, in payment of postage on letters between the different islands. There are a number of plates of these stamps, of different values, and each containing ten varieties. The second stamp was issued by the postmaster of Petersburg, Va., in the early days of the war of the rebellion and before the postal service of the Confederate government was in working order. The third was used in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1869, during the war between France and that country. It was made from the cancellation stamp in use in the post office, the usual date being replaced by the value. The stamps were struck by hand on sheets of paper which had been previously ruled into squares with a lead pencil. The fourth stamp is one of the Reunion stamps previously mentioned. There were eight stamps in the setting, four having a central device like the stamp shown, and the other four being of a different design.
It is interesting to remark that most of these type-set stamps show an evidence of their provisional nature and the stress under which they were made, in the paper on which they were printed. It was usually writing paper, such as would be found at a stationers at that period. Some of the rare type-set stamps of British Guiana were printed on the paper used for lining sugar barrels.
[Illustration: Stamp, "Shanghai LPO", 2 candareens]
The stamps of the first issue of Shanghai supply an unique variety in typographed stamps. In these stamps the central design is cut upon a block of ivory and the surroundings are set up from printer's type and rules. The stamps were printed one