Chapter 4
PREPARATIONSWhen an advertisement appeared in the Newspaper
Proprietor announcing that there was—
For sale: An old-established zinco-engraver's business with a
splendid new plant and a stock of chemicals.
Everybody in the printing world said "That's Etherington's." To
the uninitiated a photo-engraver's is a place of buzzing saws, and
lead shavings, and noisy lathes, and big bright arc lamps.
To the initiated a photo-engraver's is a place where works of
art are reproduced by photography on zinc plates, and consequently
used for printing purposes.
To the very knowing people of the printing world, Etherington's
was the worst of its kind, producing the least presentable of
pictures at a price slightly above the average.
Etherington's had been in the market (by order of
