Questions

Are the plates original engravings?

They are restrikes: impressions pulled from the original copper plates by the house that cut them. A restrike from a worn plate is honest craft, and the daybook records every run so you know which state you hold.

Why does one plate cost more than another?

Edition size, plate wear, and paper. The auroral chart is sixty impressions and grey-green stock; the 1884 facsimile is two hundred and twenty and buff laid. The plates cost the same to print. The archive decides the price and the archive does not negotiate.

Can I visit?

Yes, with a week's notice. You will see the press working if the day's run is on, and you will be asked to keep your fingers off the copper. This is not a rule about visitors; it is a rule about copper.

Do you ship?

Rolled in a tube, never folded, insured for the asking price. The margin notes travel with the plate because they are part of the plate.

Is any of this real?

No. The house, the surveyors, the plates, the prices and the harbour are invented for a demonstration catalogue. The engraving process described is genuine craft, and everything else is fiction wearing good boots.

Can I commission a chart of my own water?

In the fiction, yes, four plates a season, beginning with the commission ledger. In reality, this page is part of a portfolio demonstration and takes no orders.