Ad for Photo Engraving 1891
Toronto. Have you ever wondered how photographs ended up in magazines and newspapers, or why it took so long, or why colour was so sparse? The short answer is expense and technology.
The earliest books used actual prints tipped in. Wood cut or steel cut engravings from photographs allowed images like our wet plate man to be in print as an accurate and detailed drawing. Black and white drawings could be placed on a page with text, or placed on a single sided, full page size plate facing another page. These plates carried colour drawings too on occasion.
In January 1891, The Canadian Architect and Builder magazine carried an illustrated advertisement on page 12 from the Toronto firm of Moore & Alexander for Photo-Engraving, Half-Tone, Cuts. and Reproductions made by their company The Canadian Photo Engraving Bureau, 203 Yonge Street, Toronto. (Just around the corner from Massey Hall, between Shuter and Queen.)
Thanks to PHSC member George Dunbar for emailing me this piece of Toronto photographic history.
