The Club Dumas

“I am inclined to think,” he added after a moment, once he had their attention again, “that if some pages were interpolated, it was done either around the time of the original edition, or now, in our time. We can discount the time between the two, because such a perfect reproduction of an ancient work has become possible only very recently.”

Corso handed back the diagram and asked, “Imagine you were faced with a book that had pages missing. And you wanted to complete it using modern techniques. How would you go about it?”

The Ceniza brothers sighed deeply in unison, professionally relishing the prospect. They were now both staring intently at The Nine Doors.

“Let us suppose,” Pedro said, “that this hundred-and-sixty-eight-page book has page 100 missing. Pages 100 and 99, since one sheet has two sides. And we want to replace it. The trick is to locate a twin.”

“A twin?”

“As we say in the trade,” said Pablo, “another complete copy.”

“Or at least a copy where the two pages we need to duplicate are intact. It would also be advisable to compare the twin with our incomplete copy, to see if the depths of the type impressions in the paper are different or if the letters have worn differently. As you know yourself, types were moveable then and could easily wear down or be damaged. So with manual printing, the first and last copy of the same print run could vary greatly. They might have crooked or broken letters, hold the ink dif­ferently, things like that. Examining such variations allows you to add or remove imperfections on an interpolated page so that the page matches the rest of the book. We would then proceed with photomechanical reproduction and produce a plastic pho-tolith. And from that we would obtain a polymer or a zinc.”

“A plate in relief,” said Corso, “made of resin or metal.”

“Exactly. However perfect the reproduction technique, we would never get the relief, the mark on paper typical of old printing methods that used inked wood or metal. So the entire page has to be reproduced using a moldable material—resin or metal. Such a plate creates very similar effects to printing with the kind of movable lead types used in 1666. We put the plate on the press and print the page manually, as was done four centuries ago ... using paper that dates from the same time, of course, or treated both before and after with artificial aging methods. The composition of the ink must be thoroughly re­searched. The page is treated with chemical agents so that it matches the other pages. And there you are, the crime is carried out.”

“But suppose the original sheet doesn’t exist. Suppose there’s no model from which to copy the two missing pages.”

The Ceniza brothers both smiled confidently.

“That,” said Pedro, “makes it even more interesting.”

“Research and imagination,” added Pablo.

“And daring, of course, Mr. Corso. Suppose Pablo and I have that copy of The Nine Doors with pages missing. The other one hundred sixty-six pages provide us with a catalogue of all the letters and symbols used by the printer. We take samples until we have obtained an entire alphabet. We reproduce the alphabet on photographic paper, which is easier to handle, and then multiply each letter by the number of times it appears on the page. The ideal, the artistic flourish, would be to reproduce the types in molten lead, as ancient printers used to do. Un­fortunately this is too complicated and expensive. We make do with modern techniques. We divide up the letters with a blade into loose types, and Pablo, who has a steadier hand, composes the two pages on a template, line by line, just as a compositor would have done in the seventeenth century. From that we produce another proof on paper and eliminate any joins or im­perfections in the letters, or we add faults similar to those found in the letters of the original text. Then all we need do is make a negative. From the negative you get a reproduction in relief, and there you have your printing plate.”

“What if the missing pages are illustrations?” “It makes no difference. If we had access to the original engraving, of course, the technique for making a copy would be easier. In this case, the fact that the engravings are all woodcuts, which have lighter lines than copperplate or dry-point, means that we can produce an almost perfect piece of work.”

“Suppose the original engraving no longer exists.” “That’s not a problem either. If we know of it-from refer­ences, we can imitate it. If not, we can invent it. After studying the technique used for the book’s other engravings, of course. Any good draftsman could do it.” “What about printing it?”