There are many photographers who, unfortunately, are quite indifferent as to the medium they use in mounting the trimmed photographs. So long as the medium will cause the adherence of the back of the print to the cardboard employed, they are perfectly satisfied, whether it be paste fresh or sour, or starch or gelatine in a similar condition. If any of our readers have had the misfortune to have their rooms papered with rancid paste, they will have noticed that the unpleasant smell attending it has not been removed from the room for weeks, and that there is a liability of the return of the disgusting odour when the air is at all damp. In this case the fact that decomposition is going on is detected by the olfactory nerves, because the quantity is considerable. It is none the less true, however, that every square inch of the surface of the wall paper is undergoing the same ordeal, and that if it contains any colour, &c., which would be affected by decomposing organic matter, there would be but small chance of the paper retaining its fresh appearance. Were a silver print mounted with the same paste, we need scarcely point out that danger to its permanency is to be apprehended. Paste, we know, is as a rule tabooed, but there is no occasion for it to be so if care be taken that it is absolutely fresh when employed in mounting. In looking for a mounting material, we should endeavour to find something which does not readily take up moisture. Glue, gelatine, dextrine, and gum are all inadmissible on this account; on the other hand, starch, arrowroot, cornflour, and gum tragacanth, when once dry, do not seem to attract moisture.

Referring to glue, Mr. W. Brooks says[29] that he has recently seen many photographs which have been mounted with that medium, and in some cases, where the glue has been put on too thickly, it swells up into ridges, showing marks of the brush with which it is applied, and each ridge after a time turns brown. The same writer is not wholly in favour of starch, but in our own opinion pure white starch is as good a material as can be met with. To prepare it for use as a mountant, a large teaspoonful of starch is placed in the bottom of a cup, with just sufficient cold water to cover it. This is allowed to remain for a couple of minutes, after which the cup is filled with boiling water, and well stirred; the starch should then be fairly thick, but not so thick as to prevent a brush taking up a proper supply for a good sized print. We will suppose that we are going to mount a day's work of carte-de-visite prints. In a former chapter we have said that it is desirable that the prints should be left damp. If they are dried, they should be slightly moistened, and placed in a heap one above the other, as by so doing the moisture is confined, and one damping of all the prints is sufficient. In our own practice we have, as is natural, all the prints with the faces downwards. A stiff bristle brush is then dipped into the pot containing the starch, and the starch brushed over the back of the top print. This one is then carefully raised from the print beneath it, and, supposing it to have been properly trimmed, it is laid upon the card, and pressed down by means of a soft cloth, and placed on one side to dry. The next print is then treated in the same manner, and so on. By this plan no starch gets on the face of the prints, which is a desideratum. With a little practice, just sufficient starch will be brushed on each carte, and no more. Young hands, however, are sometimes apt to give more than a fair share to them; in this case, after pressing the print down with the soft cloth, it may be useful to place on the print a piece of writing paper, and press all superfluous starch out by a rounded straight-edge, or an ivory or wooden paper knife. The card in this case should be placed on a slab of thick glass, so as give an even pressure. The starch, which will exude beyond the edges of the card, should be carefully wiped off with a clean cloth.

This is of course a method to be adopted only in the case of bungling mounting, but it is useful then, and may save a carte. It should be remembered that the less mounting medium used, the greater is the chance of a silver print not fading.

To mount larger prints, the back should be slightly damped, and the brush with the starch applied with cross strokes, so that every part is covered. Particular care should be taken that the corners and edges are not missed, since it often necessitates re-mounting the print, which is to be avoided as far as possible, since it is a troublesome matter. The rounded-edged ruler, and the sheet of white paper, is also useful here, since over a large surface there is more difficulty in getting even layers of starch, than over smaller ones. When a print has to be mounted with a margin, the places where the top corners have to come should be marked with a fine pencil point. By a little dexterity, the top edge of the print, the back of which has been covered with starch in the manner described, can be brought into the position indicated by these dots, and be then lowered without puckers or folds. It should be remembered that the print should just cover the pencil marks, since it is almost impossible to erase blacklead with india-rubber, if any starch should by accident get on it.

It is well to dry these prints under pressure, since the cardboard is apt to cockle. A couple of boards rather longer than the prints suffice for the purpose. The mounted prints are laid between them, a sheet of clean blotting-paper separating each, and a few weights placed on the top board. For prints of moderate size, a table-cloth press is an excellent substitute.

As to the kind of mounts to be used, opinions vary. To our mind, the simpler they are, the better they look. It is not rare to find a regular advertisement of the photographic establishment below a carte or cabinet print. To say the least of it, this is bad taste, and we are sure it is bad art. If the work be good, it needs no recommendation; and if it be bad, the less of an advertisement that appears, the better it is for the photographer. At the back of a carte or cabinet is the place where any advertisement should appear; but even here it may be overdone. When we find the back of the carte got up with any amount of gold-lettering flourishes, and no blank space on which the eye can rest without encountering some one especial merit of the artist, we may expect to find on the front of the card the same kind of tawdry work. It is seldom advisable to have the mount of a white colour, though for cartes or cabinets, in which the margin will be hidden in the album, this is not of much consequence; but for prints in which the margin shows, it is generally advisable to have some slight tint visible, preferably of a cream or buff colour. There are some classes of work which will, however, bear a white margin, but it is rarely the case; and we advise, as a general rule, that there should be some tone on it, to prevent its attracting the eye away from the picture by its whiteness. Black mounts are much in vogue at the present time, and they are effective and artistic; but chemical analysis has shown them not to be safe, since they are enamelled with substances which are apt to induce fading. A good and stable black mount is a desideratum, which it is to be hoped will be found before long.

Notwithstanding our preference for starch as a mountant, we give a method of preparing glue for the same purpose. The glue used should be light, and as clean as possible. It should be shredded and soaked in sufficient clean water to cover it for five or six hours; any dust which may have adhered to it will find its way into the water. The water should be poured off and replaced by an equal quantity of fresh. The vessel containing it is heated over a small gas jet or spirit lamp until solution takes place. The liquid is then thinned down with warm water till it is of proper consistency, a point which is soon learned by a little practice. An ordinary small glue pot will be found convenient.

It is sometimes useful to have at hand a mounting solution which will not cockle the mount, and the late Mr. G. Wharton Simpson gave a formula which is very good in this respect. Fine cut gelatine or shredded glue is swollen in the least possible quantity of water, and this is boiled with alcohol, with much stirring. If 80 grains of Nelson's No. 1 fine cut gelatine are taken, 3 dr. of water should be used for making it, and to it 2 oz. of alcohol be added. When cool this sets into a jelly, and can be used by letting the bottle into which it has been transferred stand in hot water. Prints can be mounted on foolscap paper with this medium without any serious cockling being apparent.

It should be recollected that no two batches of paper will mount exactly alike, some expanding more than others. It is well to mount a trial print before doing many, to see exactly how the paper under manipulation behaves.

Rolling the Prints.—After the prints have been under the hands of the retoucher, they should be rolled in a rolling-press in order to give a brightness to the printed image. It would be invidious to point out any particular press that should be used. Suffice it to say, there are many excellent ones in the market. The directions for cleaning and using the press are supplied with each machine; we therefore refrain from saying anything about them.