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Expertise Sought : Original printing-plate for "Le Temple du Soleil"

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notwitter0102
Member
#1 · Posted: 27 Jan 2012 22:01
Any idea whether the plate (thin metal sheet) is an original that was used for the Le Temple Du Soleil story in the Belgian Tintin magazine?

I understand the pages were published in a landscape design (two central pages versus standard portrait way in the books published later).

I am not sure about the printing process used for the Tintin magazine and whether this plate is one of a kind, or just one out of many used in the printing process (if used at all).

I attach some pictures of the plate and the printed page in the Tintin magazine.

Thanks
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 28 Jan 2012 01:29
Sorry, I've no idea. It looks like an offset printing plate, but I don't know whether they used this process for Tintin Magazine. Offset plates do come up for auction from time to time, but I've not ever seen one for the magazine, but I'm no expert in this field. It could be an offset plate from one of the pages for the facsimile editions that were published (in 1989 and 2005, I think). But it could just as easily be a forgery. Does it have any provenance?
notwitter0102
Member
#3 · Posted: 28 Jan 2012 13:29
The only history I can trace back is that the plate was acquired, with several other Tintin/Kuifje items, through a private trade in the late 90s, in the Netherlands. Good hint with the late facsmile editions. The printing plate looks like a thin aluminum construction that was mounted on a cylinder.
Richard
UK Correspondent
#4 · Posted: 29 Jan 2012 10:28
The presence of a page number at the bottom of the plate (in a circle in the middle) suggests to me definitely not from the original magazine, as that would only have been used in the books. The facsimile edition was published in the late 1980s, I think, so that would fit in well with the trade you suggest.
jock123
Moderator
#5 · Posted: 29 Jan 2012 11:13
Richard:
The presence of a page number at the bottom of the plate (in a circle in the middle)

I'm not certain if it's a number; I thought that last night, but when I looked, my facsimile is on un-numbered pages, and the circled numbers weren't in the magazine.

It could be a registration mark, to allow the printer to align the plates for the different colours, but if so it's a bit close to the art – usually you'd allow a bigger margin.

That doesn't rule it out being a facsimile printing of course (there's been more than one), just that it may not be a number.

I'd also point out that whilst it is a curiosity, such things very rarely make a lot of money, as they seem to be of little interest to collectors (this goes for printing plates generally, not just Tintin).
glendale
Member
#6 · Posted: 29 Jan 2012 22:43
Pardon my ignorance and I am not a printer but my recolection of printing is should this plate not be mirror reversed (negative)? Otherwise if you print this the print would be back to front.
jock123
Moderator
#7 · Posted: 29 Jan 2012 23:12
glendale:
my recolection of printing is should this plate not be mirror reversed (negative)?

It's a fair assumption, but if as Harrock suggests the process it is designed for is off-set printing, then the plate is positive.

The plate is inked, the image from the plate is transferred to a blanket (a sheet of rubber or similar), and the ink then is transferred from the blanket to the paper - this latter stage being what gives the process its name, with the ink off-set from the plate when it is laid on the paper, rather than as happens when ink goes straight from plate to paper, in, for example, the letter-press method.

Thus the work-flow is: positive (plate) – negative (blanket) – positive (printed surface).
glendale
Member
#8 · Posted: 30 Jan 2012 02:39
jock123:
if as Harrock suggests the process it is designed for is off-set printing, then the plate is positive.

Thank you - as I said, I am not a printer...
notwitter0102
Member
#9 · Posted: 30 Jan 2012 19:32
Thanks to all for the input.
Followed the Harrock lead and understand there are 2 original/landscape variants of Le Temple Du Soleil (1988 and 2003, Casterman, French editions). The plate has the circle in the middle at the bottom of the plate : 61 (page number). Will try to get my hands on the French editions and verify the assumption. More for my own curiosity than anything else.
thanks again
alvarolino
Member
#10 · Posted: 30 Jan 2012 21:17
It seems to be just a gray scale version of the printed page, not one of the four color plates used in the CMYK process.

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