Re: Blue-Black Cyanotype & Luster

----- Original Message -----
From: "Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com>
To: "alt-photo-process" <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 7:41 PM
Subject: Re: Blue-Black Cyanotype & Luster

On Sun, 16 Oct 2005, Kai Hamann wrote:

> Hello Judy,
>
> Concerning Eder you write: >the chemistry book, not the
> "History" which
> was names & dates<. I´ve looked up Abebooks and am a bit
> curious about
> which chemical Eder you are writing. In German there was
> published a
> pocketbook (which is pretty common) with reciepes that has
> about 500
> pages and the "Ausführliches Handbuch der Photographie"
> (meaning
> "Comprehensive Handbook on Photography"). The Eder
> "History" is only ONE
> of about 14 parts in 4 volumes of that work. Most
> important for me is
> the IV/4 that deals with non-silver print out processes
> with iron,
> manganesee, copper, vanadium, uranium, platinum, ... salts
> on about 270
> pages.

Hi Kai,

It sounds like the book I have called "History of
Photography" by Josef
Maria Eder, translated by Edward Epstean, published by Dover
Press (1978,
as an "unabridged & unaltered republication of the work
originally
published by Columbia University Press, 1945") is different.
It's 848
pages including the index, with LOTS of names and
DESCRIPTIONS of effects,
findings, and processes, but nothing that someone (or this
one) would
consider a formula or could do if she didn't already know
how to do it.
Sounds to me like Columbia University picked out the stuff
*they* liked,
what a historian could understand, and left the "techy"
stuff for geeks
and that "Comprehensive Handbook on Photography."

I wonder if that's been translated???

> And well, toning cyanotypes. I think it is the most
> wonderful thing one
> can do with a cyanotype. Making a good cyanotype print is
> more precise
> handwork than art. Toning is the art to rule over science.
> As a non
> native english speaker I can´t express it better right
> now. When toning
> you have to make fast decisions, take risks and understand
> the
> principles or the image can be ruined within seconds.

Too true, but taking risks with cyanotype isn't extreme
peril, I always
thought, because it's so easy and cheap to make another when
you screw up.

> PS: Yesterday I made the first prints with a new toning
> technique that
> builds up the picture with tiny individually colored
> pieces. Here is a
> cutout of one of the prints:
> http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/cat/2442/display/4155392.
> Guess how
> proud I am? =:)

It sounds wonderful... As I've probaably admitted a few
times, my system
crashes when I even breathe "http//www" but when I recover I
often get
there... I shall try. Meanwhile, congratulations.

Judy

    These ARE two different books. The multi-volume book is
really an encyclopedia of photography. I don't know if it
was ever translated and must be very rare.
    The history book you have is a history and was
translated during WW-2, thats the edition you have. It was
also reprinted by (I think) focal press. I have the reprint
edition. The reprint is better than the Columbia U. version
because it includes the illustrations which were left out of
the Columbia edition.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com