A

à la poupée print

A print created when ink is applied directly into a separate area of a plate’s surface and worked into the appropriate area of the design using cotton daubs called dollies, or in French, poupe.

Ad Vivium

A Latin term literally meaning “from the life.” It often appears on early prints beneath the bottom picture line and indicates that the work was done from life and is not a painting.

Allegorical print

A print representing a universal truth by using imagery. Often using a classical theme.

Antique print

All prints printed and published before 1900 are considered antique prints. 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.

B

Bird’s-eye view prints

Prints showing their subject as viewed from above at an oblique angle.

Blind stamp

A blind stamp is an embossed seal impressed without ink onto a print as a distinguishing mark by the artist, the publisher, an institution, or a collector.

Block

A (wood) block is a piece of wood used as a matrix for a print. Wood blocks are used primarily for woodcuts or wood engravings.

C

Cartes-de-visite

Card photographs measuring approximately 4 x 2.5 inches. Production in the United States flourished from the 1860s to the 1880s.

Catalogue raisonne

A catalogue raisonne is 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 applique (chine collé) print

A chine applique or chine collé is a print in which the image is impressed onto a thin sheet of paper, originally China paper, which is backed by a stronger, thicker sheet. China paper takes an intaglio impression more easily than regular paper, so chine applique prints generally show a richer impression than standard prints. Proof prints are often done as chine appliques.

Chromolithographs

Lithographs printed in at least three colors.

Cityscape prints

Prints containing views of cities or towns.

Cloth prints

Prints produced on cloth. Linen, cotton, and silk are frequently used.

Counterproofs

In printmaking, impressions taken from a print or drawing by passing it through a press against a damp sheet of paper. The image appears in reverse.

D

Del, Delin, Delineavit

A Latin term literally meaning “He drew it.” It often appears on prints beneath the bottom picture line after the artist’s name. After the artist’s name on an engraving, it indicates that the print was taken from a drawing and not from an oil painting. On a lithograph, it can indicate “drawn on stone by” the lithographer or artist who created the original picture.

E

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 that was 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. For limited editions, cf. below.

Engravings

Prints taken on paper from incised plates. The two main classes of engravings are intaglio and relief. In intaglio engraving, the line engraved has a positive value. The line that is engraved on the plate is the line that appears on the print. Heavy pressure is applied to the plate to extract the ink to the paper. In relief engraving, the lines engraved are negatives to leave the design in relief. Relief printing, or surface printing, transfers ink from the lines left on the surface of a plate (like printing from type).

Etchings

Prints taken on paper from plates incised using an acid to corrode the plates’ surface.

Exc, Excud, Excudit

A Latin term literally meaning “He did it.” It often appears on early prints following the names beneath the bottom picture line and means executed, printed, or published by.

F

Fine Art & Historical Prints

Prints can be separated into two general types, fine art prints and historical prints. These types can best be understood through a differentiation of their emphasis. The distinction between the two types of prints is not clear-cut nor is it understood by all experts in the same way, but generally a fine art print is one conceived and executed by an artist with as much or more concern for the manner of presentation of the print as for its content, whereas the concern of the maker of an historical print is focused more on the content of the image than on its presentation.

Fraktur

Broadly refers to a type of calligraphic hand that first appeared in Germany in the 16th century, and the blackletter typefaces derived from it. In America, the term “Fraktur” is also used for hand-decorated manuscripts and printed forms (such as birth and baptism certificates) made by and for Pennsylvania Germans from 1740 to 1910. These items were created for personal records and not as official or government documents.

G

Genre prints

Prints depicting scenes from everyday life.

I

Imp, Imprimavit

A Latin term literally meaning “Has printed it.” It often appears on early prints following the names beneath the bottom picture line and identifies the printer.

Impression

An impression is 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.

Inc, Incid, Incidit

A Latin term literally meaning “Has engraved it.” It often appears on early prints following the names beneath the bottom picture line and indicates who engraved the plate.

Intaglio

An intaglio print is one whose image is printed from a recessed design 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.

Inv, Invenit

A Latin term literally meaning “Has designed it.” It often appears on early prints following the names beneath the bottom picture line and indicates the designer or inventor of the picture.

L

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 nineteenth 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-twentieth century print market meant that non-limited edition prints from before the late nineteenth 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)
• 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 block: Up to 10,000

It was only with the development of lithography and of steel-facing of metal plates in the nineteenth 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, by which printmakers created an appearance of rarity and individuality for multiple-impression art.

Lithograph

Prints taken from a drawing done on polished limestone or zinc or aluminum plates. The drawing is done with greasy crayons, pens or pencils. A solution containing gum arabic and dilute nitric acid is washed on the stone (or plate). This solution fixes the grease in place. The entire plate surface is washed with water and then inked. Print paper is applied and sent through a press, transferring a mirror image of the stone (or plate).

Lithotint

A tonal lithograph printed from a single stone or plate.

M

Matrix

A matrix is 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.

Mezzotint

An intaglio printmaking technique in which is a metal tool with small sharp teeth on a roller, known as a rocker, is run over an ungrounded copper plate, creating small rough indentations in the metal. These indentations create a uniform dark “tone” upon which the desired image is created by burnishing away portions of the surface with metal tools to create lighter areas. The plate is then inked and printed.

Mixed Method

A mixed-method print is one whose design is created on a single matrix using a variety of printmaking techniques, for example: line engraving, stipple, and etching.

N

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 this edition and x represents the specific number of the 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, together with the fact that later impressions are sometimes superior to earlier pulls, means that lower numbers do not generally indicate better quality impressions. As with signed prints, the numbering of prints is a development of the late nineteenth century.

O

Offset lithographs

Lithographs printed by transferring an image from a stone or plate to an intermediate surface and then to the print paper.

Oleographs

Chromolithographs printed on a textured surface. Popularly used to produce inexpensive reproductions of oil paintings in the late nineteenth century.

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 criterion used is stricter. 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, which is produced photomechanically, and from a restrike, which is produced as part of a later, unconnected publishing venture.

P

Paper

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 eighteenth 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.

Photomechanical prints

Prints made from photographically prepared printing surfaces. A distinctive dot pattern is usually visible.

Pinx, Pinxt, Pinxit

A Latin term literally meaning “He painted it.” It often appears on early prints following the names beneath the bottom picture line and identifies the artist who painted the picture from which the print was made.

Platemark

A platemark 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 platemark when the paper is forced together with the plate. Some reproductions have a false platemark.

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

A proof is 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 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 extra 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.” (Cf. glossary of abbreviations) 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.

R

Relief

A relief print is one whose 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, in the late nineteenth century, remarques became popular as an additional design element in prints and were also used in the creation of remarque proofs.

Reproduction

A reproduction is a copy of an original print or other artwork whose 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.

S

Sc, Sculp, Sculpsit

A Latin term literally meaning “He engraved it.” It often appears on early prints following the names beneath the bottom picture line and identifies the engraver of the print.

Signed

A signed print is one signed, in pencil or ink, by the artist and/or engraver of the print. 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 the late nineteenth century, in response to the development of photomechanical reproduction techniques, 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.

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 that are the same state, and there can be several states of a print in the same edition.

Stone

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

W

Watermark

A watermark is 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.