Antique Photographic Items 1800s, Glass Dry Plate, Photogravure Print Block, Canadiana, Victorian Man/ Woman, Toronto, Lead Engraved shops Block

A fabulous collection of three different photographic techniques. 1800s.

1. A photogravure printing block, with a gentleman's image engraved on it in reverse, so it will print in positive. So technically, it is a negative shops image. This was commonly done from the late 1880s onward. When you look at the block it appears all black. When I angled my camera it showed the full image. The paper with it says "Thos. J. McMurray". The block measures 2 1/4" x 2" x 7/8". Good condition with one tiny chip in the bottom right corner of plate.

During my research a kind gentleman educated me about this item. This is his description. I will say this is what it is to the best of my knowledge.

"When printing using letterpress technique you used raised type for the text, and engravings for any pictures. Doing engravings by hand was difficult, tedious and lengthy, so some of the earliest machines developed to help printers and newspapermen were engraving machines...machines that could "read" an image and reproduce it in engraved form. This same technology, by the way, led to facsimile machines. "Photogravure" was the earliest of these technologies that really worked well with photographs....given the content of this one, it's likely that it was made on a photogravure machine.

2. A Seed's Dry Plate glass negative of a woman.
"Mr. Seed developed a more practical photographic dry plate that was quickly dubbed the "Seed Dry Plate" upon its release in 1879. Soon, photographers worldwide were using Mr. Seed's invention. The appeal of Mr. Seed's dry plates rested in their ease of transport. Photographers could now travel with these prepared dry plates and develop their photographs at their convenience. By the twentieth century, Mr. Seed's dry plates were universally regarded as the finest in the world".
This one measures 6 1/2" x 4 3/4". Some spotting on the glass but a photo was developed from the negative and excellent quality.

3. Engraved lead metal image of a city attached to wooden block. Beautiful church and oxen cart and people having a stroll. Good condition. Opposite side has written Toronto Year? Measures 4" x 3" x 7/8"

Very interesting conversation pieces!

Thank you for shopping Past Perfect Antiquity.