John Thomas Smith Publishes the First Steel-Engraved and the First Lithographed Book Illustrations

On June 9, 1807 English painter, engraver, antiquarian and sometime Keeper of Prints at the British Museum John Thomas Smith issued Antiquities of Westminster. . . . in London. According to its title page the work contained two hundred forty-six engravings of topographical subjects, of which one hundred and twenty-two were no longer in existence when the book was published. These engravings were published on 38 plates, nearly all either drawn or engraved by Smith, of which two were tinted and twelve were hand-colored (two heightened with gold). As a supplement to this work Smith issued Sixty-Two Additional Plates to Smith's Antiquitie's of Westminster, advertising the price of these as six guineas on its engraved and hand-colored title page. These plates were mostly either drawn or engraved by Smith.   

In his Antiquities of Westminster Smith experimented with various print media, including etching, engraving, mezzotinting, aquatint, and lithography. For his plate of the Ceiling of the Star Chamber facing p. 29. Smith used an old steel saw blade in its unsoftened state as a medium. He broke a number of burins in the process, and it took him two months to complete the plate instead of the two days it would have taken to engrave the plate on copper. Because of the difficulty with this print Smith did not return to steel engraving. The image was, however, the first steel engraved book illustration.

Smith's plate "Internal view of the painted chamber" facing p. 48,

"a rather weak pen drawing in the style of an etching, is the first known instance of a lithograph being used to illustrate a book. The original intention was to illustrate the whole edition with one plate only produced by lithography; but the process was obviously not quite so easy as it seemed, as after 300 prints had been taken the stone was ruined and it was decided to revert to etching on copper for the remaining copies. The first 300 copies of the edition have both the lithographed and etched versions as Smith decided to use his failure as an opportunity to describe the process" (Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850 [1970] 30). 

"The exact date of Smith's drawing on stone is not known, but he describes in the text (p. 49) how he was supplied with materials by André, and if this was so then the drawing must almost certainly have been made prior to André's departure in 1805. It must in any case have been completed and spoilt by 19 November 1806 since this is the date borne by the copper-engraving that replaced it for the rest of the edition. The print of the plate may therefore ahve been done by either André or Vollweiler (Twyman, op. cit., footnote 1, p. 30).

Smith's book arose from the chance discovery by workmen of a section of 14th century wall at Westminster, complete with its original wall paintings, sculpture and stained glass. Smith quickly secured permission to record what had been revealed before it was demolished and this became the basis of his superb work. His book remains the main source of information for the appearance of the Palace of Westminster, which fortunately it depicts in great detail, before the fire of 1834 and also of the Abbey precincts before the clearance of the winding alleys and sinister rookeries reflected in the names of Thieving Lane and Little Sanctuary

The text for Smith's book was written by John Sidney Hawkins, antiquarian son of Sir John Hawkins, the friend and first biographer of Samuel Johnson. However, Hawkins was a difficult collaborator, and so antagonized Smith that Smith removed Hawkins's name from the title page and elsewhere in the volume. The conflict between the co-authors became very public.  My copy has bound at the back an elaborate supplement by Smith entitled Mr. John Thomas Smith's Vindication: Being an Answer to a pamphlet, written and Published by by John Sidney Hawkins. . . . concerning Mr. J.T. S's conduct in relation to the "Antiquities of Westminster." Abbey, Scenery, 210; Lowndes p. 2426. 

Hunnisett, Engraved on Steel. The History of Picture Production Using Steel Plates (1998) 110-11.