ANASTATIC PRINTING

also called relief etching a technique of printmaking from a plate on which all but the design to be printed is etched away, leaving the design in relief. In zinc etching, the most popular anastatic process, the design is painted on a zinc plate in asphalt varnish and the uncoated portions of the plate are bitten away by a solution. The process is best known as that in which the English poet and artist William Blake executed the text and illustrations of many of his books.