What is an original print?
To be an original print, a sheet of paper needs to have received a design made specifically for its particular medium - wood, copper, stone, zinc, or silkscreen -and printed by the artist (or printed under the artist's supervision) in his or her lifetime. The printing surface is inked and then pressed to the surface of the paper. Each piece of paper is known as an individual impression. The printing is often done in black on white paper, although some processes allow printing in color.

The resulting graphic is created with the intention to make more than one impression. Consequently, each impression is original but not unique. It is also important to note that if the design merely copies work done in another medium (such as oil painting or watercolor), the resulting work is not an original print but rather a reproduction using a graphic process.

The artist may pull several copies of a graphic during his lifetime. Each time the artist makes changes on the printing surface, the change constitutes a different state of the print and impressions are often identified by state. If the design is printed after the artist's death, the resulting impressions are re-strikes and are not considered original prints.

What determines value? Why does what appears to be the same print command different prices in different places?

The value of an antique etching, engraving, lithograph, or woodblock is determined by several criteria. First and foremost is condition. Prints must be clean (no staining or foxing), conform to the original size (no trimming or repairs) and if colored, the coloring must have been done in the period (not added at a later date). Other determinants of value are the popularity of the subject matter, the reputation of the artist, the size of the edition, and where the impression falls in the printing (early or late).

How do I know a print is "real"?

Authenticity of a print is determined by identifying properties of the paper and ink as well as referencing the catalogue raisonne for the artist, which will identify various states (editions) of the print. Anything you are told about an antique should be documented on your sales slip. Should a discrepancy occur, the sales slip is your legal contract with the dealer.

Did these prints come from books?

The answer is yes and no. We do not take books apart - we prefer to buy the best single images available in the market place. This is made possible by the fact that not all graphics were bound in the first place. Many original prints were produced as part of studies which were published as serials. If you subscribed to a study, you had the right to return the individual prints to be bound after the edition was complete. Some subscribers chose not to bind their collections, however, and instead kept the prints in a book press or portfolio. Therefore the same images could have been bound or not bound, depending on the preference of the initial owner.

The following is a list of terms that are often used in discussion of original graphics and the visual arts in general.

À la Poupée:
A print is printed in color à la poupée when colored ink is applied directly to a plate's surface and worked into the appropriate area of the design using cotton daubs called dollies, or in French, poupée.

Aquatint:
An etching technique that creates areas of tone. A plate is treated with a fine layer of rosin prior to submersion in an acid bath. The acid bites the plate between the grains of rosin, creating a rich texture whose darkness is determined by the length of exposure to the acid.

Antique print:
Any print printed and published prior to 1900 is considered an antique print. A modern reproduction of an old print is not itself an antique. The cut-off date of 1900 is not firmly fixed, however, and in many circumstances original prints made before World War II are also considered to be antiques.

Blind stamp:
An embossed seal impressed onto a print as a distinguishing mark by the artist, the publisher, an institution, or a collector.

Block:
A piece of wood used as a matrix for a print. Wood blocks are used primarily for woodcuts or wood engravings.

Burin:
An engraving tool with a burr at the end that produces a textured line.

Catalogue raisonné:
A documentary listing of all the works by an artist that are known at the time of compilation. It should include all essential documentary information.

Chine appliqué (chine collé):
A print in which the image is impressed onto a thin sheet of China paper backed by a stronger thicker sheet. China paper takes an intaglio impression more easily than regular paper, so chine appliqué prints generally show richer impressions than standard prints. Proof prints are often done as chine appliqués.

Chiaroscuro Woodcut:
A design is drawn on a wooden block and the excess is cut away. Often rather coarse in appearance and texture, the process was refined in the 19th Century with the development of wood engraving. Here harder woods such as box and pear are cut across the end of the grain (whereas woodcuts are cut along the grain). The result is a cleaner finer image. In the 20th century many artists returned to more open grained woods for artistic effects.

Collotype:
A hybrid letterpress/lithography process. It is part lithography, because it is planographic and the plates are printed while damp; it is part letterpress because of the style of press. The process: Dichromate activated gelatin dried above its melting temperature in a lightproof oven. After being contact printed (UV), the plate is washed. The gelatin absorbs water and expands in opposite proportion to its exposure. This reticulation generates an inconsistent dot pattern which when printed can appear as continuous tone. Ink adheres to the hardened exposed gelatin and is rejected from the soft saturated gelatin.

Cross Hatching:
A process in engraving of finely drawn crossed lines that produce shading and adding depth in an image.

Drypoint:
The image is scratched on the plate surface with a sharp needle. Depending on the force and angel used, fine sharp pieces of metal are thrown up on either side of the line. This burr holds ink, as does the furrow created by the needle and, the result is a warm almost blurred line. Because burr wears quickly its presence can indicate an early impression.

Edition:
An edition of a print includes all the impressions published at the same time or as part of the same publishing event. A first edition print is one issued with the first published group of impressions. First edition prints are sometimes pre-dated by a proof edition. Editions of a print should be distinguished from states of a print. There can be several states of a print from the same edition and there can be several editions of a print all with the same state.

Engraving:
An engraving tool or burin is used to remove thin v-shaped furrows from a metal shape. The ink is forced into these grooves with a roller.

Etching:
An intaglio process in which a metal plate is coated with an acid-resistant ground and drawn upon with etching tools to expose the metal. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath that eats away or "bites" the exposed areas, causing depressions that can be inked and printed.

Fine Art & Historical Prints:
Prints can be separated into two general types, fine art prints and historical prints. The distinction between the two types of prints is neither clear-cut nor understood universally by all experts and is best understood by differentiation of emphasis. Generally, a fine art print is conceived and executed by an artist with as much or more concern for the manner of presentation as of the image than for its content. With an historical print, the maker tends to focus more on the content of the image than the presentation.

Gravure:
See photogravure.

Impression:
A single piece of paper with an image printed on it from a matrix. The term as applied to prints is used in a manner similar to the term "copy" as applied to a book.

Intaglio:
A print in which the image is printed from a recessed design that is incised or etched into the surface of a plate. In this type of print the ink lies below the surface of the plate and is transferred to the paper under pressure. The printed lines of an intaglio print stand in relief on the paper. Intaglio prints have platemarks.

Lettering:
The lettering of a print refers to the information usually given below the image concerning the title, artist, publisher, engraver and other such data.

Limited Edition:
A limited edition print is one in which a limit is placed on the number of impressions pulled in order to create a scarcity of the print. Limited editions are usually numbered and are often signed. Limited editions are a relatively recent development dating from the late 19th century. Earlier prints were limited in the number of their impressions solely by market demand or by the maximum number that could be printed by the medium used. The inherent physical limitations of the print media and the relatively small size of the pre-20th century print market meant that non-limited edition prints from before the late 19th century were in fact quite limited in number even though not intentionally so. German printmaker Adam von Bartsch, in his 1821 Anleitung zur Kupferstichkunde, estimated the maximum number of quality impressions it was possible to pull using different print media.

Engraving: 500 (and about the same number of weaker images)
Wood Block: 800-1,000
Stipple: 500 (and about the same number of weaker images)
Mezzotint: 300 to 400, though the quality suffers after the first 150
Aquatint: Less than 200
Wood Engraving: Up to 10,000
It was only with the development of lithography and of steel facing of metal plates in the 19th century that tens of thousands of impressions could be pulled without a loss of quality. These technological developments led to the idea of making limited edition prints, whereby printmakers created an appearance of rarity and individuality for multiple-impression art.

Linocut:
This is the same process of using a block or sheet of linoleum as the matrix.

Lithograph:
A grease-based drawing is applied to a stone or aluminum plate and treated chemically. The stone is kept wet and rolled with ink. Only the grease drawing attracts the ink; the water on the rest of the stone or plate repels the ink. When the stone is fully charged with ink, it is run through a high-pressure press, which transfers the image to a sheet of paper.

Matrix:
An object upon which a design has been formed and which is then used to make an impression on a piece of paper, thus creating a print. A (wood) block (metal) plate or (lithographic) stone can be used as a matrix.

Medium:
The process by which the printing surface or matrix has been created.

Mezzotint:
A plate is roughened with a fine tooth tool known as a mezzotint rocker. When inked, this surface prints a rich velvety black. The image is created by smoothing (burnishing) areas to produce lighter tones. The process is unusual in creating a white image from black background.

Mixed Method:
A mixed method print is one in which the design is created on a single matrix using a variety of printmaking techniques (i.e. line engraving, stipple, and etching).

Monotype:
An image is drawn or painted onto an unworked plate (metal, glass, or plexi-glass) and pressed onto paper to create a unique print. A second impression can sometimes be pulled from the plate, producing a "ghost" image.

Numbered Print:
A numbered print is one which is part of a limited edition and which has been numbered by hand. The numbering is usually in the form of "x/y", where "y "stands for the total number of impressions in the edition and "x" represents the specific number of the individual print. The number of a print always indicates the order in which the prints were numbered not necessarily the order in which the impressions were pulled. This along with the fact that later impressions are sometime superior to earlier pulls means that lower numbers do not generally indicate better quality impressions. As with signing of prints, numbering of prints is a development of the late 19th century.

Offset:
See photogravure.

Original Print:
An original print is one printed from a matrix on which the design was created by hand and issued as part of the original publishing venture or as part of a connected subsequent publishing venture. For fine art prints, the criteria used are strict. A fine art print is original only if the artist both conceived and had a direct hand in the production of the print. An original print should be distinguished from a reproduction produced photo-mechanically as well as from a restrike which is produced as part of a later unconnected publishing venture.

Paper:
Early paper is rolled paper. Dampened fibers are pressed through a roller producing a fabric like paper with flecks of fibers still visible. Laid paper is made by hand in a mold where the wires used to support the paper pulp emboss their pattern into the paper. This pattern of closely spaced; crossing lines can be seen when the paper is held up to light. Laid paper often has a watermark. Wove paper is made by machine on a belt and lacks the laid lines. False laid lines can be added to machine-made paper. Though wove paper was invented in the 18th century and laid paper is still produced, the majority of prints made prior to 1800 are on laid paper and the majority of prints made subsequently are on wove paper. China paper is a very thin paper originally made in China which is used for chine appliqué prints.

Photogravure or Photo Lithograph:
A photographic image produced from an engraving plate. The process was developed in the 1850s. After taking a picture, a glass transparency is made from the negative. Next, a copper engraving plate is dusted with grains of bitumen and heated so that the bitumen becomes attached to the plate. A carbon print that has been exposed beneath the transparency is then transferred to the plate. The plate is then bathed in warm water which causes the unexposed gelatin of the carbon print to be washed away, leaving the image in relief. Ferric chloride is then applied to the plate and eats into the copper in proportion to the highlights and shadows of the gelatin relief. The result is an etched copper plate of the original photographic image. Printing involves spreading ink evenly across the plate and then pressing the plate onto the paper. A photogravure looks like a photograph, but is a series of connected lines rather than unconnected dots as in a photograph. Also called offset or plate.

Planographic:
A planographic print is one whose image is printed off a flat surface from a design drawn on a stone or plate using a grease crayon or with a greasy ink. In this type of print, the printing ink is absorbed by the greasy design on the stone and is transferred to the paper under light pressure.

Plate:
A plate is a flat sheet of metal, usually copper, steel or zinc, used as a matrix for a print. Metal plates are used for intaglio prints and for some lithographs and photo lithographs or photogravures.

Plate Mark:
A plate mark is the rectangular ridge created in the paper of a print by the edge of an intaglio plate. Unlike a relief or planographic print, an intaglio print is printed under considerable pressure, thus creating the plate mark when the paper is forced together with the plate. Some reproductions have a false plate mark.

Pochoir:
The process used principally by the French for fashion and genre reproductions in the early 20th century, uses stencils whereby the image is created directly on the paper. Often used to replicate hand coloring.

Print:
A single print is a piece of paper upon which an image has been imprinted from a matrix. In a general sense, a print is the set of all the impressions made from the same matrix. By its nature, a print can have multiple impressions.

Proof:
An impression of a print pulled prior to the regular published edition of the print. A trial or working proof is one taken before the design on the matrix is finished. These proofs are pulled so that the artist can see what work still needs to be done to the matrix. Once a printed image meets the artist's expectations, this becomes a bon à tirer ("good to pull") proof. This proof is often signed by the artist to indicate his approval and is used for comparison purposes by the printer. An artist's proof is an impression issued in addition to the regular numbered edition and reserved for the artist's own use. Artist's proofs are usually signed and are sometimes marked "A.P.", "E.A." or "H.C." Commercial publishers found that there was a financial advantage to offering so-called "proofs" for sale and so developed other types of proofs to offer to collectors, generally at higher prices.

Proof before letters (Avant les lettres): An impression pulled before the title is added below the image.
Scratched letter proof: An impression in which the title is lightly etched below the image.
Remarque proof: An impression pulled before the remarque is removed.
Relief:
A relief print is one in which the image is printed from a design raised on the surface of a block. In this type of print the ink lies on the top of the block and is transferred to the paper under light pressure.

Remarque:
A remarque is a small vignette image in the margin of a print, often related thematically to the main image. Originally remarques were scribbled sketches made in the margins of etchings so that the artist could test the plate, his needles, or the strength of the etching acid prior to working on the main image. These remarques were usually removed prior to the first publication of the print. During the etching revival of the late 19th century, remarques became popular as an additional design element in prints and were also used in the creation of remarque proofs.

Reproduction:
A copy of an original print or art piece in which the matrix design is transferred from the original by a photomechanical process. A facsimile is a reproduction done to the same scale and appearance as the original.

Restrike:
A restrike is a print produced from the matrix of an original print, but which was not printed as part of the original publishing venture or as part of a connected subsequent publishing venture. A restrike is a later impression from an unrelated publishing project. It has no intrinsic value.

Signed:
A signed print is one signed in pencil or ink by the artist and/or engraver of the print. It is a convention that appears at the turn of the century and is unique to very late 19th century and 20th century only. A print is said to be "signed in the plate" if the artist's signature is incorporated into the matrix and so appears as part of the printed image. Proof prints were originally signed as "proof" that the impression met the artist's expectation. Later proof prints were signed in order to add commercial value to these impressions. In response to the development of photomechanical reproduction techniques in the late 19th century, fine arts prints were signed by the artists in order to distinguish between original prints and reproductions. Seymour Haden and James McNeil Whistler are usually credited with introducing this practice in the 1880s.

Silkscreen (or Serigraph):
Ink or paint is pulled through a finely meshed fabric screen, often made of silk which has been stretched tightly on a frame. The image is made by creating a "mask" or stencil on the screen, either by cutting one from paper and placing it on top of the fabric, by painting on a glue or varnish film, or by making a photographic film stencil.

State:
A state of a print includes all the impressions pulled without any change being made to the matrix. A first state print is one of the first group of impressions pulled. Different states of a print can reflect intentional or accidental changes to the matrix. States of a print should be distinguished from editions of a print. There can be several editions of a print which are the same state, and there can be several states of a print in the same edition.

Stipple:
A process of engraving done with a spiked rocker bell that adds texture to the body of an engraving after the line engraving is complete.

Stone:
A (lithographic) stone is a slab of stone, usually Bavarian limestone, used as a matrix for a print. Lithographic stones are used to make lithographs and chromolithographs.

Trial Proof (T.P):
Any test impression taken from a plate block, stencil, or other print matrix to test how that particular image or part of an image will reproduce.

Watermark:
A design embossed into a piece of paper during its production and used for identification of the paper and papermaker. The watermark can be seen when the paper is held up to light.

Woodcut:
A form of relief printing in which a piece of wood (usually the plank side of soft wood) is carved so that the raised areas carry ink to produce the design.

Wood Engraving:
A formal intaglio printing processs developed in the late 18th century in which an image is cut into the end piece of wood, making possible a large number of impressions.

Aquarium I (Seawater Aquarium)
Unidentified Natural History Circa 1880.
Unidentified Artist
Chromolithograph
Germany - 19th century

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