Autographic printing (Pumphrey)

Autographic printing is a duplicating process for text and monochrome drawings, developed and patented by Alfred Pumphrey, a photographer from Birmingham, England, which became popular in around 1878.
One of its earliest advocates was the naturalist and microscopist Thomas Bolton, who not only used it in his publications, but sold the necessary equipment, and an instruction booklet, from his business premises in Ann Street, in central Birmingham.
A model demonstrating the process is held by the National Museum of American History in Washington DC. It was used in securing US patent 200759, granted to Pumphrey's brother Josiah Pumphrey, also of Birmingham, on 26 February 1878.

Method

The process required the original to be made using an ink rich in iron, on paper.
In an article in The Midland Naturalist, William Bywater Grove described a demonstration by Alfred Pumphrey on 2 April 1878, to a meeting of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society:
Eight plates produced in this manner were included in the same issue.