In my early college days I was a darkroom technician, lithographer and plate maker for a printing company doing four-color process work (magazines). I used a pick to do detail work seperating dots on films and copper plates, scratching the copper or film emulsion to repair spots that would come out as black blobs in the final printing. Since this dates from the days when individual letters and art blocks would be hand set in trays rather than photographed, I would imagine it's use would be to remove foriegn matter (bits of paper and dried ink) from the text and art blocks, and likewise to scratch out filled in copper from the art blocks. Maybe earlier, it would have been used to detail stone lithographs or woodcuts, but I believe this knife post dates that technology. That is just my opinion. BRL might be the one to ask for the true history of this type of "lithographer's knife". Excellent find on the catalog cut!
Codger
