How to Identify Prints, Second Edition (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

Exquisitely presented and profusely illustrated. -- Library Journal

Starts with the basics and covers all aspects of print connoisseurship. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

[An] engaging compilation of information about every printmaking process one could possibly explore, uncover, or imagine. -- School Arts

Product Description

Since its first publication in 1986, this comprehensive guide has established itself as the essential reference book for print and book collectors, dealers in prints and illustrated books, art librarians, art professors and students, and everyone interested in graphic art.

Is a particular print a woodcut, an etching, or a lithograph? Is it an original stipple engraving or a photogravure reproduction? Is the color printed or added by hand? Arranged in self-contained sections that can be consulted individually or as part of a larger research operation, this book helps identify accurately any printed image. Included are all the 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 color.

Essential aspects of printing history and the printmaking craft receive full coverage, and examples are given of the features that reveal the type of print, such as varieties 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 past 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 an appealing reproduction? As cheap printing becomes 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. 275 illustrations, 40 in color.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 2 edition (May 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500284806
• ISBN-13: 978-0500284803
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #140,571 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Art
  #17 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Other Media > Prints
  #42 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Books

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must-read" for anyone collecting authentic prints, June 6, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, How To Identify Prints: A Complete Guide To Manual And Mechanical Processes From Woodcut To Inkjet is a superb reference and self-teaching tool for discerning between manual prints, process prints, and screenprints/non-prints, whether the print in question is monochrome or color, and whether it is relief, intaglio, or planographic. 272 illustrations, 40 of which are in color, highlight the meticulous attention to detail in this excellent manual, which also covers essential aspects of printing history and the craft of printmaking. This new addition is revised with insights concerning how increasingly sophisticated yet inexpensive cheap printing processes such as quality inkjet and laser prints affect the process of identifying and evaluating printed images. A "must-read" for anyone collecting authentic prints or pursuing a career involving the identification of prints.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-Have for the print lover, September 22, 2004

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I almost said "for the beginning print lover," but even the pros might want occasional reminders about obscure processes.

This book displays an incredible number of processes and variations. Even within etching, there is standard intaglio process, relief etching, intaglio so deep it's amost relief, spit-biting or open-biting - well, a very long list. This gives an exacting look at the marks specific to each process, and gives good diagnostic descriptions. A special strength in this book is the differential diagnoses, the questions to ask that help distinguish two very similar kinds of marks. Every point made in the text is illustrated real samples, and that makes for a heck of a lot of illustrations.

I have almost no quibbles with this text. There are just a few minor points that Gascoigne could have brought out more clearly. First is that Japanese woodcuts are under-represented. It's a rich tradition with a number of distinguishing features: gradations of ink hand-placed on a block, occasional use of mica for luster, and occasional use of un-inked "blind" impressions to impress texture into the paper. Second is a mark that I think is unique to drypoint: the line is often asymmetric, crisp on one side and blurred on the other, capturing the asymmetry of the drypoint burr. The split drypoint line is more famous but, in my experience, less common. I've seen it only in the most aggressively worked drypoints, such as some by Picasso. Third is a feature of some dust-ground aquatints: that the white marks can sometimes form a connected mesh around the black dots, where a spirit ground always has a black ocean dotted with white islands. I know these are minor points, and I hope you see how few there are.

I'm a process nut. It's not the only way I enjoy prints, and not the way everyone enjoys them. For me, though, it really adds something to know how the maker's hand created each mark that I see. This isn't strictly a process book, and only accidentally a book of process history. It's a book about how a print looks, and seeing even more in the finest part of its looks. In the end, that's really the best reason to love a print.

//wiredweird

PS: A little while ago, I was given a very nice color print. It was done in mezzotint style, using burnishers to work from dark to light. Instead of a rocker-made ground, though, it had an aquatint ground. Color came from inking au poupee, dabbed on the plate. The giver was quite surprised that I read its story so precisely. Read this book, and you'll know just what I saw.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lasting, classic work essential to any art library, July 16, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Back in print and updated in a new paperback edition is Bambar Gascoigne's classic How To Identify Prints, first published in 1986 and enjoying ongoing acclaim as an essential resource for any involved in identifying prints, whether they be woodcuts, lithos, or etchings. Some ninety techniques - manual and mechanical alike - are described to round out an accompanying history of prints. A lasting, classic work essential to any art library and many a general library reference collection.