Paper Reproduction Methods - Pros and Cons
| Tracing | Rubbing | Backlight | Backlight-frontlight subtraction | Ultraviolet | Indirect ultraviolet (Dylux) | Infrared | X-Ray | Betaradiography | Surface laser scan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reproduction quality | low | good | good | good | good | ? | ? | excellent | excellent | good |
| Equipment | minimal | minimal | simple | simple | simple | ? | simple | specialized | specialized | specialized |
| Costs | minimal | minimal | low | low | moderate | moderate | moderate | high | high | high |
| Health risks | none (although Briquet went blind copying watermarks) | none | none | none | moderate | moderate | moderate | radiation hazards | radiation hazards | moderate |
| Conservation issues | - none (in the reproduction and document are side by side) - moderate (if the tracing paper is on top of the original document and if this is fragile) | moderate (contact between reproduction and document paper) | moderate (document needs to be firmly fixed for reproduction) | moderate (document needs to be firmly fixed for reproduction) | moderate (document needs to be firmly fixed for reproduction) | moderate (document needs to be firmly fixed for reproduction) | moderate (document needs to be firmly fixed for reproduction) | low | low | moderate (document needs to be firmly fixed for reproduction) |
| Library permission | - none for side-by-side reproduction - difficult for contact tracing | difficult | difficult | difficult | difficult | difficult | difficult | extremely difficult (plus transportation permits needed for the radioactive plate) | extremely difficult (plus transportation permits needed for the radioactive plate) | difficult |
| Other positive aspects | - objective reproduction of the sieve imprint | |||||||||
| Other negative aspects | - reproduction is a subjective interpretation of the original - image of a watermark may be the result of two or three folios within a manuscript or document [ please clarify this ] | - to restaure aspect ratio, needs image registration | - to restaure aspect ratio, needs image registration | - bulky hardware - takes too much time for imaging in the present state of the technology | ||||||
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