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Originally Posted by mouschi
GREAT input here, everyone! Thanks so much! So, if I'm understanding properly, Old Judge, CDVs and Cabinet cards were made from negatives. Negatives could produce several, but not an unlimited amount, as they would degrade over time. Perhaps there simply aren't that many cards of each player in the Old Judge set then? Man, I think I've gotta get my hands on that Old Judge book by Jay and the other gentleman who wrote it (I think there were two people?)
As for newspapers, they were using woodcuts and stamping them basically by hand? They couldn't use pictures (until the dot-matrix patterns was invented) because they couldn't reproduce the images due to the paper needed. Do I have it right so far?
Looking forward to hearing from others as well!
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The negatives themselves last a long time, as long as there is no wear from handling etc. But most of what was printed was a different size than the negative, and adding the company name meant duplicating the negative. each duplication causes a little less sharpness in the image. How much depends on the skill of the person doing the job.
The woodcuts were sort of printed by hand. Even around the time of the earlier ones the presses were pretty fast. and by the 1870's a major publication would probably be oriented on a steam powered press.
The best woodcuts were sometimes called wood engravings, and were cut into the end grain of a maple block. It was durable enough, and could be carved in enough detail.