Edition (printmaking)

These may be marketed as "limited editions" with investment potential (which is rarely realized), and even signed and numbered by the artist.

Prints were often run off as demand allowed, and often worn-out plates were reworked by the original artist or another, to produce a new state.

This can be done to some extent by the study of the paper involved, and its watermark, and the condition of the plate as revealed by the printed image.

The aquatints of Goya, which are done in a technique that wears out quickly on the plate, were the first important prints to be published initially in limited editions, which however were not signed or numbered.

In fact the plates survived, and since Goya's death several further editions have been published, showing a progressive and drastic decline in quality of the image, despite some rework.

Plates can be reworked and restored to some degree, but it is generally not possible to create more than a thousand prints from any process except lithography or woodcut.

A few hundred is a more practical upper limit, and even that allows for significant variation in the quality of the image.

Because of the variation in quality, lower-numbered prints in an edition are sometimes favored as superior, especially with older works where the image was struck until the plate wore out.

The printer is also often allowed to retain some proof impressions; these are marked "P. P." Finally, a master image may be printed against which the members of the edition are compared for quality: these are marked as "bon à tirer" or "BAT" ("good to print" in French).

[4] However, it was not until 1986 that more comprehensive provisions, still in place today, were enacted with the passage of the "Georgia Print Law".

[4][5] The Georgia Print Law written by (former) State Representative Chesley V. Morton, became effective July 1, 1986.