Originally, I was going to do a crocodile post about the binding of this architecture book by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau:
But after I thought about it, it seemed more appropriate to talk about the prints in the book. Andrea Cawelti guessed right: the wavy lines on this image correspond to cracks in the plate, which retained ink and printed.
Other prints in this book show the same type of defects:
As well as some corresponding to cracks at the edge of the plate:
Several prints also show plate scratches:
and a certain ink smudginess:
In addition to these blemishes, several plates have one-sided beveled edges:
and one print shows a plate corner missing:
Clearly something was wrong with the set of plates used for this book.…
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