Dr. Jekyll No. 2, chloride lith developer

This is an improvement on Dr. Jekyll No.1. It replaces the bromide restrainer with sodium chloride. It's the only lith developer I know that does so. Like No. 1, it's free of formaldehyde, is mixed at working strength and should be used immediately.


1l water, room temperature
18g sodium carbonate monohydrate (Arm & Hammer Washing soda)
a pinch of sodium sulfite (about 0.5g)
4g hydroquinone
15g sodium chloride (Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt)

(The carbonate and chloride amounts were chosen because they're each equal to one tablespoons with my set of measures - there's probably considerable leeway here.)

Compared to Dr Jekyll No. 1, No. 2:

* lasts longer in the tray - you can get 4-5 prints out of each batch
* degrades more gracefully. It doesn't streak when exhausted, but the shadows start extending their borders, stimulating development around them
* starts working faster, and gives more development to midtones, for an overall slightly less "lithy" effect. (The chloride is probably a less effective restrainer than the bromide, even at this concentration)
* requires about half as much exposure
* Yields somewhat less complicated, unsplit tones


It gives attractive reddish tones on Forte Polywarmtone and fairly neutral yellowish-brown on Oriental Seagull VC. It doesn't yield lith development on Agfa MCC or Ilford MG WT. The chloride content of the paper may affect results quiet a bit.

Oddly, I noticed that subsequent use of Kodak Brown Toner increased D-max on some samples of Oriental Seagull. It also cooled tones slightly.