A technical dictionary of printmaking, André Béguin.

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Contact Photogravure
A photomechanical process used in making plates. The first contact photogravure was made by Niepce in 1827 and was a portrait of Cardinal Amboise of which he made several impressions. Niepce used a tin plate covered with Syrian asphalt* which has the property of becoming white and insoluble when exposed to light. The plate thus had to be prepared in darkness to then be exposed to light either after being covered with a design whose blacks stopped the light or then was exposed in a darkroom. The exposed parts of the plate then became insoluble while the black parts were easily dissolved with some gasoline. All that was then left to do was to bite the plate in the same way used for etchings*. Thus contact photogravure was not only one of the first photographic experiments, it was also the first attempt at photochemical engraving [* photogravure].
In 1853 Niepce's cousin, Niepce de Saint-Victor, and Lemaître presented a paper to the French Academy of Science concerning a method they called "heliogravure" which, however, was not the reproductive technique used at present which is known by the same name. In fact the paper concerned a tranfer method on metal, stone, and especially wood which were then engraved or cut by hand or prepared chemically. Later on heliogravure became a more precise term and heliographic engraving came to denote all engraving done on metal or wood which was done by means of a photographically transferred design.
[autotype, photographic processes, transfer].
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