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	Glossary of Printmaking Terms  | Abbreviations | Glossary of Art	Art School

Terms

Aquatint
An aquatint is created by etching sections, rather than lines, of a plate in order to create areas of uniform tone. An aquatint is prepared by applying resin or a similar ground to a metal plate, which is then heated, thus adhering the ground to the metal. This gives a roughness or grain to the plate which adds texture to the image. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath, which bites or etches the plate and creates areas which will hold the ink. The design is created with gradations of tone achieved through repeated acid baths combined with varnish used to stop out areas of lighter tone. Aquatint is an intaglio process, so prints made in this manner will have a platemark. Aquatinting, with its areas of tone, was often used to duplicate the feel of a watercolor. Some etching was frequently used in an aquatint print to create linear elements in the image. Aquatints were invented by Jean Baptiste Le Prince around 1768, but became especially popular among British printmakers in the first part of the nineteenth century.

À la poupée
A print is printed in color à la poupée when colored ink is applied directly to a plate's surface and worked into the appropriate area of the design using cotton daubs called dollies, or in French, poupée.

Blind stamp
A blind stamp (also "chop mark") is an embossed seal impressed onto a print as a distinguishing mark by the artist, the publisher, an institution, or a collector.

Block
A (wood) block is a piece of wood used as a matrix for a print. Wood blocks are used primarily for woodcuts or wood engravings.

Broadsheet (broadside)
An unfolded sheet of paper printed on one side only. A broadside is an advertisement or announcement printed on a broadsheet.

Catalogue raisonné
A catalogue raisonné is a documentary listing of all the works by an artist which are known at the time of compilation. It should include all essential documentary information.

Chine appliqué (chine collé)
A chine appliqué or chine collé is a print in which the image is impressed onto a thin sheet of China (or other similar) paper which is backed by a stronger, thicker sheet. China paper takes an intaglio impression more easily than regular paper, so chine appliqué prints generally show a richer impression than standard prints. Proof prints are often done as chine appliqués.

Edition
An edition of a print includes all the impressions published at the same time or as part of the same publishing event. A first edition print is one which was issued with the first published group of impressions. First edition prints are sometimes pre-dated by a proof edition. Editions of a print should be distinguished from states of a print. There can be several states of a print from the same edition, and there can be several editions of a print all with the same state.

Chiaroscuro woodcut
A form of woodcut involving several blocks in which one or more of the blocks is used to print large areas of tone. Typically, a chiaroscuro woodcut will involve a line block to indicate the outlines of the composition and tone blocks with areas carved out to create highlights by allowing the white of the paper to show through. The final effect is similar to an ink wash drawing with highlights and line drawing.

Chromolithograph
A color lithograph usually involving a large number of lithographic stones to allow a complex color separation. The term is often used to describe late nineteenth-century color lithographs that emulate or reproduce paintings.

Drypoint
Similar to etching, but the lines are simply scratched into the plate manually, without the use of acid. The hallmark of a drypoint is a soft and often rather thick or bushy line somewhat like that of an ink pen on moist paper.

Engraving
A form of intaglio printing in which lines are incised into a metal plate with a carving tool called a burin. The characteristics of burin engraving differ from that of etching in that engraving, requiring considerable force, is done from the strength of the arm and eliminates the quavering autographic qualities of etching, which is done more from the finger tips like fine drawing. The hallmarks of engraving are often elegantly swelling and tapering lines.

Etching
A means of incising lines in a metal plate with acid for printing in the intaglio technique. The plate is first covered with an acid resistant ground through which the artist scratches a design with a stylus or needle, revealing the bare metal below. This plate is then immersed in an acid bath that cuts the incised lines into the plate. Etched lines often betray the subtle motions of the artist's fingertips.

Giclée
An Iris print, the name derives from the French for "spurt."

Gillotage
A relief process made by transferring a lithographic image to a metal plate that is then etched to produce a relief plate. The term is also used inaccurately to indicate varieties of photomechanical relief printing.

Gum arabic
A secretion of the acacia tree. Used on the surface of some antique hand-colored prints to add depth/texture to the image. Can be seen by holding the print at an angle to the light.

Heliogravure
A forerunner of photogravure in which the photographic image is projected directly onto the plate rather transferred to it on an emulsion. The term "photogravure" is often used indiscriminately for both techniques.

Impression
An impression is a single piece of paper with an image printed on it from a matrix. The term as applied to prints is used in a manner similar to the term "copy" as applied to a book.

Intaglio
Any of the techniques in which an image or tonal area is printed from lines or textures scratched or etched into a metal plate (engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint, lift ground, soft ground). The plate is covered with ink, then wiped clean leaving ink in the incised lines or textures of the image. This plate is then printed in a press on moistened paper. The paper is forced down into the area of the plate holding ink, and the image is transferred to the paper.

Limited Edition
A limited edition print is one in which a limit is placed on the number of impressions pulled in order to create a scarcity of the print. Limited editions are usually numbered and are often signed. Limited editions are a relatively recent development, dating from the late nineteenth century. Earlier prints were limited in the number of their impressions solely by market demand or by the maximum number that could be printed by the medium used. The inherent physical limitations of the print media and the relatively small size of the pre-twentieth century print market meant that non-limited edition prints from before the late nineteenth century were in fact quite limited in number even though not intentionally so. German printmaker Adam von Bartsch, in his 1821 Anleitung zur Kupferstichkunde, estimated the maximum number of quality impressions it was possible to pull using different print media.

* Engraving: 500 (and about the same number of weaker images)
* Stipple: 500 (and about the same number of weaker images)
* Mezzotint: 300 to 400, though the quality suffers after the first 150
* Aquatint: Less than 200
* Wood block: Up to 10,000

It was only with the development of lithography and of steel-facing of metal plates in the nineteenth century that tens of thousands of impressions could be pulled without a loss of quality. These technological developments led to the idea of making limited edition prints, by which printmakers created an appearance of rarity and individuality for multiple-impression art.

Linoleum Cut
A relief print carved into linoleum rather than wood.

Lithograph
A printing technique in which the image is drawn on a very flat slab of limestone (or a specially treated metal plate). This stone is treated chemically so that ink, when rolled on to the stone, adheres only where the drawing was done. This inked image can then be transferred to a piece of paper with the help of a high pressure press.

Matrix
A matrix is an object upon which a design has been formed and which is then used to make an impression on a piece of paper, thus creating a print. A {wood} block, {metal} plate, or {lithographic} stone can be used as a matrix.

Metal Cut
A form of relief printing from an intaglio plate. In the fifteenth century metal cuts often employed drill holes that printed as white dots. Engraved lines will print white rather than black in metal cut since the surface, rather than the marks in the plate, is inked.
Mezzotint
An intaglio process invented around 1650 that allows the printing of rich tonal areas of black and grey. The mezzotint process begins by texturing a metal plate in such a way that it will hold a great deal of ink and print a solid black field. This is done with a tool called a "rocker." A rocker is essentially a large curved blade with very fine teeth along its edge. This blade is rocked back and forth, putting courses of fine dots into the metal plate. After this has been done repeatedly the plate will be covered with fine stipples that can hold ink. The next step is to scrape away the stippled texture where lighter passages are needed. The more vigorously the plate is scraped the less ink it will hold and the whiter it will print. Mezzotint differs conceptually from other intaglio methods because the artist works from black to white rather than white to black. For this reason mezzotint lends itself to scenes with many dark passages.

Mezzotint
Mezzotint can be thought of as the inverse of the other intaglio processes, for a mezzotint design is created working from black to white, rather than vice versa. In a mezzotint the metal plate is worked using a rocker, which roughens the entire surface of the plate with tiny holes and burrs. If the plate were printed at this time the image would be completely velvet black. Areas that are to appear in lighter tones or in white are smoothed out on the surface so that they will hold less ink. Mezzotint is an intaglio process, so prints made in this manner will have a platemark. The mezzotint process makes a very richly textured image and was used particularly for portraits. Mezzotint was invented by a German soldier named Ludwig von Siegen around 1642 but was refined later in that century by Abraham Blooteling. Used primarily in the eighteenth century, it was especially popular in England and was often called la manière anglaise. Mezzotinting was relatively unknown in the United States until it was brought to prominence by John Sartain

Numbered Print
A numbered print is one which is part of a limited edition and which has been numbered by hand. The numbering is usually in the form of x/y, where y stands for the total number of impressions in this edition and x represents the specific number of the print. The number of a print always indicates the order in which the prints were numbered, not necessarily the order in which the impressions were pulled. This, together with the fact that later impressions are sometime superior to earlier pulls, means that lower numbers do not generally indicate better quality impressions. As with signed prints, the numbering of prints is a development of the late nineteenth century.

Original Print
An original print is one printed from a matrix on which the design was created by hand and issued as part of the original publishing venture or as part of a connected, subsequent publishing venture. For fine art prints the criteria used is more strict. A fine art print is original only if the artist both conceived and had a direct hand in the production of the print. An original print should be distinguished from a reproduction, which is produced photomechanically, and from a restrike, which is produced as part of a later, unconnected publishing venture.

Paper
Laid paper is made by hand in a mold, where the wires used to support the paper pulp emboss their pattern into the paper. "Laid lines" are made by the closely laid wires running the length of the frame; these are crossed at wider intervals by "chain lines," which are made by the wires woven across these long wires to hold them into place. This pattern of crossing lines can be seen when the paper is held up to light. Laid paper often has a watermark. Wove paper is made by machine on a belt and lacks the laid lines. False laid lines can be added to machine-made paper. Though wove paper was invented in the eighteenth century and laid paper is still produced, the majority of prints made prior to 1800 are on laid paper and the majority of prints made subsequently are on wove paper. China paper is a very thin paper, originally made in China, which is used for chine appliqué prints.

Photogravure
A means of printing a photographic image by the intaglio process. The photographic negative (which may be of an artist's drawing) is projected onto a sensitized gelatin emulsion or carbon tissue that is transferred to a copper plate. After washing the plate areas that correspond to the image on the negative are dissolved and the plate can be bitten by acid as in routine etching. In hand photogravure, which is most commonly used in printmaking, the copper plate is first prepared for aquatint etching. The end result can closely resemble a traditional linear etching or soft ground etching.

Photomechanical relief print
There were many means available by the 1880s that allowed a black line drawing to be transferred to a relief printing block by photographic means. These are generically known as line blocks and the images printed from them typically share many of the qualities of woodcut. The means of transferring the image are often complex, and can involve such techniques as etching photosensitized plates or electrotyping light sensitive gelatin plates.

Photomechanical reproduction
This term is used to describe a variety of processes involving the transfer of a photographic image to a printing matrix, such as an etching plate, relief block, or a lithographic stone. The term is used here whenever it is not certain exactly what photomechanical process is involved.

Planographic
A planographic print is one whose image is printed off a flat surface from a design drawn on a stone or plate using a grease crayon or with a greasy ink. In this type of print the printing ink is absorbed by the greasy design on the stone and is transferred to the paper under light pressure.

Plate
A (metal) plate is a flat sheet of metal, usually copper, steel or zinc, used as a matrix for a print. Metal plates are used for intaglio prints and for some lithographs.

Platemark
A platemark is the rectangular ridge created in the paper of a print by the edge of an intaglio plate. Unlike a relief or planographic print, an intaglio print is printed under considerable pressure, thus creating the platemark when the paper is forced together with the plate. Some reproductions have a false platemark.

Pochoir
A stencil print that does not involve a screen. Usually pigment is brushed across the openings of the template. Often the brush marks are discernable.

Proof
A proof is an impression of a print pulled prior to the regular, published edition of the print. A trial or working proof is one taken before the design on the matrix is finished. These proofs are pulled so that the artist can see what work still needs to be done to the matrix. Once a printed image meets the artist's expectations, this becomes a bon à tirer ("good to pull") proof. This proof is often signed by the artist to indicate his approval and is used for comparison purposes by the printer. An artist's proof is an impression issued extra to the regular numbered edition and reserved for the artist's own use. Artist's proofs are usually signed and are sometimes marked "A.P.", "E.A." or "H.C." (Cf. glossary of abbreviations) Commercial publishers found that there was a financial advantage to offering so-called "proofs" for sale and so developed other types of proofs to offer to collectors, generally at higher prices.

* Proof before letters (Avant les lettres): An impression pulled before the title is added below the image.
* Scratched letter proof: An impression in which the title is lightly etched below the image.
* Remarque proof: An impression pulled before the remarque is removed.

Relief print
Any print in which the image is printed from the raised portions of a carved, etched, or cast block. A simple example would be a rubber stamp. The most common relief prints are woodcuts. The term "relief print" is used when it is not clear which kind of relief printing has been used (photomechanical or hand carved, for example).

Screen Print
A form of stencil printing in which the stencil is adhered to a fine screen for support. Ink can be squeegeed through the screen onto paper. Screen printing can have a hard edged quality caused by the crisp edges of the stencil. Also referred to as "silk screen" and "serigraphy."

Serigraph
Another term for Screen Print.

Silver print
A photographic print utilizing paper impregnated with silver nitrate (distinct from a platinum print, for example).

Soft ground
An etching technique in which the plate is covered with malleable ground through which a variety textures can be pressed, allowing them to be etched into the plate. For example, a piece of paper laid on top of a soft grounded plate can be drawn upon with a pencil, and the resulting etched image will resemble a pencil line drawn on paper. To be distinguished from "hard ground" used for simple line etching.

Stipple
A stipple print is created from a metal plate upon which the design has been produced using different sized small dots grouped more or less closely together in order to create areas of tone. A stipple etching is made in the same manner as a line etching, except that the design is composed in the waxy ground with dots created by an etching needle or some other tool. A stipple engraving is created in the same manner as a line engraving, except the design is engraved into the plate using dots made with a stippling burin. Stipple is an intaglio process, so prints made in this manner will have a platemark. Stipple was used occasionally as early as the fifteenth century, but became popular in the last decade of the eighteenth century.

Sulphur ground
A technique in which a caustic sulphur compound is painted directly on an etching plate, or in which sulphur dust is otherwise applied to a plate. The resulting marks will hold ink and can be printed like an etching. The technique typically creates blotchy expanses of grey tones. This might be compared to printing rust marks on a steel or iron plate.

Wood engraving
A relief print carved in the end grain of a block of wood whose thickness is the same as the height as a piece of movable type ("type high"). This was traditionally a commercial technique practiced by specialists and used in magazines and book illustrations.

Woodcut
A relief print usually carved in the plank grain of a piece of wood. After the relief image has been carved in the plank with knives or gouges it is inked with a dauber or roller. It can then be printed by hand (in which case a sheet of paper is laid down on the inked plank and rubbed from the back with a smooth surface such as the palm of the hand or a wooden spoon) or with the help of a mechanical press.

Zincograph
A lithograph done on a zinc plate instead of on a stone. The term is also used to designate a photo-etched relief print.

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Glossary of Print making Nomenclature and Abbreviations

A.f.- Etched by

A.P.- Artist's proof

Appresso -Published by

Apud -Published by

Aquaforti fecit, aquaforti,Aquaf. Aq. - Etched by

Aquatinta - aq:tinta   - Aquatinted by

A.V. Augusta Vindelicorum - that is,published in Augsburg, Germany

Bon á tirer, B.A.T. - Proof print for use by the printer

Caelavit, cael - Engraved by

Chez - At the house of

Composuit Drawn by- referring to drawing from which
the engraver, lithographer, etc. worked

Cum privilegio - Privilege to publish from some authority

Delineavit, delin., delt., del - Drawn by (cf. composuit)

Descripsit- Drawn by (cf. composuit)

Designavit, desig- Drawn by (cf. composuit)

Dessiné   - Drawn by (cf. composuit)

Direxit, direx. Directed by (head of workshop)

Divulgavit, divulg - Published by

Dressé(e) - Drawn by (cf. composuit)

Écrit- Written by (lettering)

Effigiavit, effig - Drawn by (cf. composuit)

Engd., Eng - Engraved by

Épreuve d'Artiste - E.A. Artist's proof

Ex coll - From the collection of

Excudit, excud., exct., exc - Printed by; published by

Ex Officina - From the workshop of

Ex Typis- From the printing house of

Faciebat, fac. - Made by

Fecit, fec., f. - Made by

Figuravit, fig. - Drawn by (usually after an original painting)

Formis - At the press of

Gezeichnet, gez. Drawn by (cf. composuit)

Gravé - Engraved by

Gravure- Engraving

Hors Commerce, H.C - Not for sale; outside the regular commercial run

Impressit, imp - Printed by

Incidit, incidebat, incid., inc - Engraved by

Inventor, invenit, invt., inv., in - Designed by (original work)

Lithog., litho., lith - ithographed by (either drawn on stoneor lithographic publisher)

Maculature - A second impression taken from a matrix without re-inking

On stone - by Drawn on lithographic stone by

Pinxit, pins., pictor, ping - Painted by (original work)

Scripsit, scrip - Engraved text

Sculpsit, sculpt., sculp., sc - Engraved by

Sumptibus - At the expense of

Zusammengetragen  - Compiled by

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