How to Identify Prints

A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Inkjet

Bamber Gascoigne

£29.95

'This is such a fundamentally important book that no one interested in prints should be without it' Printmaking Today

Overview

Is it a woodcut, an etching, or a lithograph? Is it an original stipple engraving or a photogravure reproduction? Is the colour printed or added by hand? Arranged in self-contained sections that can be consulted individually or as part of a larger research operation, the book simplifies accurate identification of any printed image.Included are manual methods, and also the mechanical processes that constitute the vast majority of printed images around us. In all some ninety different techniques are described, both monochrome and colour.

Essential aspects of printing history and the printmaking craft receive full coverage, and examples are given of the identifying features that help to reveal the type of print, such as varities of line and tone. Of particular interest are the many illustrations of enlarged details showing the different appearance of various techniques under strong magnification.

The one great change during the last twenty years has been the high-quality inkjet and laser prints that are now part of everyday life. How can one tell whether an attractive image is valuable in its own right or merely a reproduction? As cheap printing processes become more sophisticated, it inevitably becomes harder to identify correctly an image of this kind. Bamber Gascoigne’s new observations in this area, added for this revised edition, will prove invaluable.

Reviews

'An exceptional introduction to the field of printmaking as a whole. A must for any art collection'
Choice

'Exquisitely presented and profusely illustrated, this book carries the reader to an ability to identify techniques used in graphic images from the invention of the printing press to high technology'
Library Journal

Product Information

Book Details

Format: Paperback

Edition Type: Second edition

Size: 25.0 x 22.0 cm

Extent: 208 pp

Illustrations: 272

Publication date: 26 April 2004

ISBN: 9780500284803

About the Author

Bamber Gascoigne is a British writer and television presenter, well known for being the original host on University Challenge.