Heliogravure was initially cited by J. N. Niépce (1829) to describe his photo-etching process (1826), which used a pewter plate coated with a bitumen resist that hardened on prolonged exposure to light. In France, the term typically described half-tone etching processes having an aquatint grain, such as that by Niépce's cousin Niépce de Saint-Victor (1853) on steel plates, Talbot's ‘photoglyphic engraving’ on copper, and the Garnier-Dujardin etchings with aquatint rosin on copper (1867). In continental Europe, heliogravure also designated Karel Klič's photogravure process and was later applied to rotogravure (rotary gravure).
— Hope Kingsley
