Copper Lines and Light

The transfer of knowledge through printing was revolutionary, including the mass-reproduction of scientific illustrations. Figure drawings of organisms could be widely printed in scientific journals and books. One common method, used in illustrations including James Audubon's Birds of America, was printing from copper plates.  

Yale geologist and invertebrate zoology-affiliate James Dwight Dana was a prolific illustrator and made countless plate illustrations printed in scientific journals and reports. His original copper plates of the genus Caligus (sea lice) are in IZ's archives. 

Dana's copper plate illustrations of Caligus were first published in an 1838 issue of the American Journal of Science.

The process of making a print from a copper plate begins with a sketch on translucent paper. Using carbon paper, the outline of the subject is traced from the original sketch and onto the plate. The paper is removed and the majority of the details are etched onto the plate directly. After the etching is complete, the plate is inked. A dampened sheet of paper is placed on top of the plate, which is sandwiched between larger sheets of fabric and cranked through a press. Ink in the etched lines of the plate is pressed firmly into the paper. Once dried, the print can be additionally hand-painted with color.

Dana's plate illustrations of Caligus are certainly scientific—comprehensive diagrams of organs, nervous systems, and other anatomy—but what other impressions do his drawings give? Though the illustrations are detailed, they don't seem overwhelmingly clinical. Rather, an exquisite organic symmetry is revealed in the magnified microscopic organism. Appendages, antenna, and other parts of the organism appear as refined ornamentation. The natural aesthetic in organismal plate illustrations have lately been reproduced into a decor aesthetic of college dorm wall posters and pillow cases. I just received a botanical plate print for my birthday from a friend, who said it fit my 'style'. Does the symmetry in plate illustrations make nature seem more approachable, controllable even? The cost of the portrait itself does include the organism's life for dissection and marvel.