Detail from a copy of an 1883 report created using hectography. The report is A Brief Resumé of the Clinical Examination of Urine, Chemical, and Microscopical by Walter Y. Cowl and Malcolm Leal. (Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101171729, preserved at https://perma.cc/AWC3-5DBU.)n.an apparatus for document duplication consisting of a metal tray filled with gelatin that absorbs aniline dye ink from a master and transfers the ink to blank sheets to produce copiesMunn 1879, 104The hectograph consists of a flat sheet iron box filled with a gluey mass, upon which, after moistening and drying it several times, a sheet of paper, written upon with a specially prepared ink, is placed and lightly rubbed with the hand. When the paper is raised the writing is found to be transferred reversed to the film of glue, and from that film, by simply placing pieces of dry paper upon it and rubbing them, some fifty impressions of the writing can be taken in a short time.Yates 1989, 50The aniline dye methods of this era used a gelatin bed or roll to transfer dye from an original to up to one hundred—thus the common name hectograph—copies. An original written or typed in aniline copying ink was placed face down on the gel, transferring the ink to the bed. The original was then removed, and sheets of blank paper were placed one after another on the gelatin bed, from which they picked up the (usually purple) dye.Rhodes and Streeter 1999, 138The term “hectograph” was derived from the Greek word for “hundred” and “I write,” implying that one’s writing could be multiplied a hundred times by means of this invention (most contemporary estimates put the actual number in a range from forty to sixty).Dana 2021, 23However, the hectograph continued to be the go-to solution for people who lacked the resources to acquire a mechanical duplicator. Teachers in poor neighborhoods or rural one-room schools, union organizers, political activists, churches, and aspiring artists and writers continued to use the gelatin printer into the second half of the 20th century.a copy produced using a hectographKissel and Vigneau 1999, 97The aniline based image lines of hectographs are unstable under light.Batterham 2008, 50Hectographs were most commonly printed using crystal violet in an aqueous medium.UIUC 2025aAn image or text composed of aniline dye ink, such as hectographs, is very sensitive to UV light and water/moisture. Image fading and resulting loss of contrast is common. Some aniline ink migration and bleeding may result from water exposure.
Notes
The hectograph was invented in the 1870s. For the most part, it was superseded by mechanical technologies in the twentieth century, but it continued to be used into the second half of the century by those organizations and individuals requiring a very inexpensive method of duplication. It remained in use by artists, zine makers, and hobbyists in the twenty-first century. Although the use of the term “hecto” was meant to imply one hundred duplicates may be made from one master, fifty is a more realistic number. Hectographs can be identified by the (usually) purple colored ink, with lines that may be watery or wavy in appearance and lacking sharpness. They are unstable when exposed to light and moisture.
Detail from a copy of an 1883 report created using hectography. The report is A Brief Resumé of the Clinical Examination of Urine, Chemical, and Microscopical by Walter Y. Cowl and Malcolm Leal. (Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101171729, preserved at https://perma.cc/AWC3-5DBU.)
n.
an apparatus for document duplication consisting of a metal tray filled with gelatin that absorbs aniline dye ink from a master and transfers the ink to blank sheets to produce copies
a copy produced using a hectograph