Black and white direct positive image forming process

A black and white direct positive image forming process which comprises imagewise exposing to light a silver halide light-sensitive material and developing the material with a black and white developing solution, said light-sensitive material comprising a non-pre-fogged internal latent image type silver halide emulsion layer provided on a support, and said material further containing a quaternary salt nucleating agent and a nucleating accelerator, wherein the black and white developing solution contains an imidazole compound represented by the formula [A] and a benzotriazole compound represented by the formula [b]:

• ##STR11## wherein each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 independently is hydrogen, an alkyl group, a hydroxyalkyl group or an alkenyl group;
• Y is hydrogen or mercapto;
• R is hydrogen, a halogen atom, nitro, amino cyano, hydroxyl, mercapto, sulfo, carboxyl, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aryl group, an alkoxy group, an acyl group or an alkoxycarbonyl group, and wherein the amount of the benzotriazole compound is in the range of 0.1 to 10 wt.% of the amount of the imidazole compound, and the amount of the benzotriazole compound is also in the range of 0.02 to 0.1 g based on 1 liter of the developing solution.