Title
The Works of Shakespeare.
Coverage
New York:
Publisher
Leavitt & Allen Brothers,
Date
n.d. [ca. 1870].
Subject
Steel-faced printing plates corresponding with the Leavitt & Allen edition. N.d.
Description
This steel-faced printing plate illustrates a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream as it appeared in a 19th-century edition of Shakespeare. Steel engraving began to be used in book illustration during the first quarter of the 19th century with the increased demand for affordable books from a growing literate public. By 1858, copper plates could be engraved and then electroplated with a thin coating of iron—a process referred to as “steel-facing,” which saved time and cost by readily allowing the surfaces of plates to be renewed when the coating wore down.
Source
From the collection of Rare Book School