This is a reproduction of most of pages 113~114 from the book "The Tamarind Book of Lithography: Art & Techniques".
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5.1 SIGNING AND NUMBERING THE EDITION
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Before the artist begins to sign and number the prints, each impression must be examined and compared with the bon a tirer. Weak or flawed impressions must be placed aside, later to be destroyed. In some workshops the printer may wish to look through the edition before the artist; in other workshops a curator may be employed to examine all
editions prior to signature. Although either the printer or a curator may reject an impression that does not meet the workshop's standard, the artist has final responsibility for acceptance. Through his signature he attests to the quality of each impression and to his acceptance of it.
Both the form and the placement of the signature are determined by the artist. He may use his initials or his full name; he may use pencil or colored crayon; he may place the signature in any position on the face of the print, in the margin or within the image. Occasionally, when the aesthetic of the work demands it, he may elect to place his signature on the reverse side of the print.
As the prints are signed they are also numbered or designated as proofs. The numbered impressions in an edition of twenty are marked 1/20, 2/20, and through to 20/20. As all impressions should be identical with the bon a tirer, with which each is compared at the time of signature, the sequence of the numbers has no meaning; the first print
in an edition of lithographs should be no different from the last. As a result, few printers make a practice of numbering impressions at the press. In color lithography such a practice would in any event be fruitless, for the impressions will not normally be printed in the same sequence as each color is added. The true meaning of the number 1/20 is thus that the impression is one of an edition of twenty, not specifically that it is the first of twenty.
At times, particularly when a large edition is printed, a reserved or preferred edition will be printed on a different kind of paper. Two hundred impressions might be made on Arches paper, for example, and another twenty five on Japan. When this is done it is customary to use Roman numerals on the preferred edition: I/XXV, II/XXV, etc.
After all the numbered impressions have been signed, a few remaining impressions of good quality may be designated artist's proofs. Although there is no universally accepted limit, the number of artist's proofs should be very small. To permit a large number of artist's proofs is to practice a deception, for the numbering of the edition thus becomes meaningless.
By custom, the bon a tirer impression, after signature by the artist, becomes the property of the workshop or the collaborating printer. Because such impressions are unique and of perfect quality they have a particular appeal to collectors, thus tending to command a premium price when on occasion they enter the marketplace.
5.2 DESIGNATION OF PROOFS
Signed impressions beyond the numbered edition are variously described:
1. Artist's proofs are impressions of a quality fully comparable to that of the numbered edition. They may be printed upon the same paper as that used for the edition or, if projected and planned in advance, upon a special paper. In France such impressions may be marked either epreuve d'artiste or, alternatively, hors commerce, sometimes abbreviated h.c.
2. Trial proofs are impressions printed before the bon a tirer. Trial proofs may sometimes differ slightly from the numbered edition in that they were printed before minor corrections were made in the stone or plate. At other times they may simply be weak impressions printed en route to the bon a tirer. It is misleading and incorrect to call a weak impression printed during the run of the edition a trial proof; such impressions are merely faulty impressions, and, as such, should be destroyed.
3. State proofs are impressions that differ markedly from the numbered edition. Such impressions come into being before major alterations in the stone or plate. If an image undergoes a series of major modifications, there may well be a series of differing state proofs which together record the stages in its evolution. On occasion, a numbered edition may be printed, the stone may subsequently be altered, and a second edition printed. In this event, the prints may be regarded as two separate but related editions, and only the intermediate proofs between them (if any) would be designated state proofs.
4. Progressive proofs are impressions from single stones for a color lithograph or from a combination of such stones, short of the final print. A set of progressive proofs for a four-color lithograph might well consist of the following:
Stone A alone
Stone B alone
Stone A plus B
Stone C alone
Stone A plus B plus C
Stone D alone
(An impression with all four stones would be the bon a tirer of the edition. See sec. 7.18.)
5. Color trial proofs are impressions that differ from the edition in the color of the ink used. Such impressions characteristically come into being as adjustments are being made in color, and it is not uncommon that in the printing of a complex color lithograph there are many of them, each differing from the others.
6. Presentation proofs are impressions of a quality comparable to that of the edition, which are not otherwise designated but which are inscribed by the artist to a friend or collaborator.
7. Cancellation proofs are made after the full edition has been printed in order to provide a record of the defacement or permanent alteration of the image on the stone. In professional shops the cancellation proof is never made until after the edition has been collated and signed. Only when the artist verifies that the desired number of impressions indeed exists is it safe to modify the stone for printing of the cancellation
proof.
Various methods are employed to cancel a stone. Portions of the image can be scraped, honed, or deleted with a strong etch. In any case, the character of the cancellation should clearly reveal that the printing image has been permanently altered and that no further impressions identical with the edition can be taken from it.
Cancellation proofs should be printed on paper identical with that of the edition. Because only one cancellation proof is printed for each edition, such impressions are unique and hence valued by specialized collectors.
After the edition and the cancellation proof have been printed, the ink should be removed from the stone with lithotine. In this condition the stone can be stored or its image can be effaced by grinding in preparation for new work. Images that are eventually to be effaced should not be stored or reground while ink is on their surface. Dried ink is difficult to remove, and its presence during grinding, though not serious, sometimes prolongs the process.
Prints made on newsprint paper or other proofing papers should not be signed by the artist. Because such papers are subject to rapid deterioration, all such proofs should be destroyed.