An electrolytic casting process used to copy a block or plate into a metal facsimile. Wood engravings made for book illustration in the late nineteenth century were printed mainly from electrotypes rather than the original wood, which might have deteriorated over the run.

Duplicating type and engravings by electrolysis.

Electrotyping is an application of the art of electroplating to typography, used for making duplicate plates for relief printing (letterpress). In copying engraved plates for printing purposes, copper may be deposited upon the original plate, the surface of which is first rendered slightly dirty, by means of a weak solution of wax in turpentine or otherwise, to prevent adhesion. The reversed plate thus produced is then stripped from the first and used as cathode in its turn, with the result that even the finest lines of the original are faithfully reproduced.

The act or the process of making electrotypes.