GRIFFITHS, ANTONY
A landmark publicationbeautifully illustrated with over 300 prints from the British Museums renowned collectionwhich traces the history of printmaking from its earliest days until the arrival of photography.
Copperplate printmaking, developed alongside Gutenbergs invention of moveable type, was a huge business employing thousands of people, and dominating image production for nearly four centuries across the whole of Europe. Its techniques and influence remained very stable until the nineteenth century, when this world was displaced by new technologies, of which photography was by far the most important.
Print Before Photography examines the unrivaled importance of printmaking in its golden age, illustrated through the British Museums outstanding collection of prints. This unique and significant book is destined to be a leading reference in print scholarship, and will be of interest to anyone with an interest in this era of art history.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Print production materials and techniques / printing capacity of copper plates / costs and profitability / lettering, language and text / censorship, privileges, taxation and promotion / copying / reprinting / colouring / single sheets, pairs, sets / book illustration / survival and loss of prints
Part 2: European print trade brief history of period / participants / the printmaker / the painter, designer / publisher finance and production and distribution / patronage / non-commercial printmaking / the printseller / marketing, advertising, subscriptions / the buyer / cheap prints, street trade and peddlars
Part 3: Use and understanding of the print variety / display and storage / collecting / knowledge and literature / understanding of prints / hierarchy of print techniques
Coda print in the 19th century the arrival of photography
