William Griggs (inventor)

[1] His artistic tastes and keen interest in photography were encouraged by Dr John Forbes Watson, who became his chief in 1858, and at his instance Griggs was installed at Fife House, Whitehall, pending completion of the India Office, in a studio and workshops for photolithographic work.

He also invented photo-chromo-lithography by first printing from a photolithographic transfer a faint impression on the paper to serve as a "key", separating the colours on duplicate negatives by varnishes, then photolithographing the dissected portions on stones, finally registering and printing each in its position and particiliar colour, with the texture, light and shade of the original.

His production of fifty copies of the "Mahābhāṣya" (the standard authority on Sanskrit grammar), consisting of 4674 pages (1871), was carried out for £6000 less than the estimate for a tracing of the original manuscript by hand.

[1] On the initiative of Sir George Birdwood, who gave him constant encouragement, Griggs secured in 1881 the patronage of the committee of council on education for a series of shilling "Portfolios of Industrial Art", 200 of which had been issued by 1912, chiefly selected from the Chinese, Persian, Arabian, Sicilian, Italian, Russian, and Spanish specimens at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

[1] Under an arrangement with the government of India, also negotiated at Sir George's instance, he issued from January 1884 the quarterly Journal of Indian Art and Industry.