1. By cutting away all the parts of a design which are not to be printed, leaving the image proud of the surface of the block. This is called relief printing.
2. By cutting out the image itself leaving the non-printing parts proud of the surface. This is called intaglio printing.
3. By drawing the image directly onto the surface. This is called surface printing.

The main method of intaglio printing is engraving into a metal plate, filling the resulting lines with ink and then pressing the paper hard against the plate. In effect the paper is embossed into the lines of ink. A number of different metals have been used by engravers, with copper generally thought to produce the softest tone and be the easiest to work. At the very end of the fifteenth century Albrecht Durer who ‘can be pronounced almost without qualification as the greatest of all line-engravers’ (Hind) began his work. Engraving was a recognised profession from the sixteenth century and engravers signed their work with their name and ‘fecit’ or ‘he made’ in the right hand corner, crediting the artist in the left hand corner with ‘delinquit’ or ‘he designed’.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries printsellers and print publishing families became established because of the enormous increase in demand from many different interest groups. The travellers in this great era of discoveries led to the great atlases being published , such as maps by Frans Hogenberg for Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum published in Antwerp in 1570, and John Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain which was published in 1611. Political agitators needed their broadsides to be published. The Church required illustrations of biblical stories in this era of religious revival: the Wierix brothers produced over 2000 devotional prints in Flanders as part of the move to combat the Reformation, in the late sixteenth century.
In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the art of portraiture flourished with the work of the masters, Rubens  (1577-1640) and Van Dyck (1599-1641). I Indeed it was Van Dyck’s visit to the court of Charles I (1624-30) which really introduced the art of engraving to England. Van Dyck held a unique position as a portrait engraver: by the economy of line, and by the concentration on some outstanding feature, his plates make a far more immediate and direct appeal than the more complicated studies of Rembrandt.

b.What is an etching?

Various forms of etching provided greater variation of tone. All methods begin by covering a metal plate with an acid-resistant coating called a ground. The design is then scratched into this, exposing untreated metal. The plate is then soaked in an acid solution which ‘bites’ the desired image into the plate. Etching allows a freer artistic hand than engraving. The etching process was invented in the fourteenth century as a method of making decorations on armour. The earliest known printed etching was by Urs Graf and is dated 1513. The technique reached its culmination in the middle of the seventeenth century with Rembrandt’s work. (1606-1669)

c.What is drypoint etching?

Both Rembrandt (1606-1669) and Hollar (1607-1677) worked in drypoint etching. This is when the artist draws directly onto the copper plate with a sharp needle. Ink is caught on the two burrs left on either side of the scratched line, rather than on the line itself. This technique is very quick and produces an image that looks very like a drawing. In this period landscape artists, such as Claude Lorraine excelled.
In the eighteenth century William Woollett (1735-1785) continued this tradition and in 1761 produced the large plate ‘Niobe’ after Richard Wilson, which made \woolett’s name.
The landscapes and costume engravings of Watteau (1684-1721) are also stunning.
The eighteenth century was a golden age of engraving. G.B Piranesi (1720-1778) produced his magnificent engravings of the great monuments of Rome of Antiquity and the Renaissance which show superb command of light and the masses of architecture. In England, the school of satirical engraving reached its peak with the brilliant works of Hogarth (1697-1764) ,Rowlandson (1756-1827) Gillray (1757-1815) and George Cruikshank (1792-1878).
In 1810 the steel plate was introduced. This allowed far more copies to be made as it was much more reilient than the copper plate. The prosperity of trade in United States lured many engravers such as the distinguished James Smillie (1807-1885) and his son James Smillie (1833-1909), to carry out bank-note engraving.

d.What is a mezzotint?

Mezzotinting was invented by a German soldier, Ludwig von Siegen in about 1642. it was later refined in the seventeenth century by Abraham Blooteling. The process involves roughening the metal plate so that it printed a deep rich black. Scrapers were then used to produce light tones. Many of the finest prints of portraits are mezzotints as this process makes a very richly textured image. It was a method particularly favoured in England in the eighteenth century and was known as la manière anglaise. Superb mezzotinters working in this period include Valentine Green (1739-1813), John Raphael Smith (1752-1812) and William Ward (1766-1826).

e.What is stipple engraving?

While mezzotint engravers produced  prints of portraits and other oil paintings, another technique was needed to copy chalk and pastel drawings. Stipple engraving allowed the outline of the design to be etched in with fine dots made by needles and other smaller dots filled in the shaded areas. England was the first country where this method took root and the only country where it flourished. Many Italian engravers came to England to work, the most famous of whom were Bartolozzi (1727-1815), Cipriani (1726-1785) and Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807). Many of these prints were printed in colours.

f.What is an aquatint?

Aquatints were invented by Jean Baptiste Le Prince (1734-1781) in 1768. An aquatint was developed for etching soft tonal areas onto the plate, allowing delicate tones and textures. The process involves fusing a rosin powder to the plate to form a porous ground. When the plate is etched the acid goes through the tiny pores in the ground, forming cavities in the metal and it is these cavities which then hold the ink. Aquatints are often used in combination with engraving or etching. Aquatints were often used to replicate watercolours and became especially popular with British printmakers in the early nineteenth century. For example, Thomas (1749-1840) and William Daniell (1769-1837) and Paul Sandby (1725-1809) were masters of the art.

8.What is surface printing?

a.What is a lithograph?

Drawing directly onto a stone or metal surface is known as lithography and results in looser, freer images. A greasy crayon is used to make the image. Because the grease attracts ink and repels water, the dampness of the stone, before an ink roller is passed over it, causes the ink to stick to the greasy drawing, but not to the rest of the wet stone. Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798. It became a very popular method of reproduction for illustration and commercial purposes after 1820 and replaced intaglio methods. It was quicker, easier to apply and more images could be produced without loss of quality than with intaglio processes. A good lithograph is very hard to distinguish from an original drawing.

b.What is a chromolithograph?

A chromolithograph is a lithograph which has been printed in at least three colours. This technique became popular at the end of the nineteenth century.  Each colour is printed from a separate stone and the image is made up from these colours. Chromolithographs are distinctive for their exceptionally clear bright colours such as those found in Owen Jones’ ‘Grammer of Ornament’.

9.What are photomechanical methods of printing?

A photomechanical print is made from a matrix from which the image has been photographically transferred from an original source. The matrix has not been made by hand and so a photomechanical print is a reproduction rather than an original print. This type of printing is generally used in poster, book, newspaper and magazine printing. Photomechanical prints were first produced in the late nineteenth century and include half tones, photogravures, photolithographs and collotypes. They generally use half tone screens which produce an image through the use of very small dots.

10.Why collect original antique prints?

Collecting antique prints is a fascinating hobby, and for many people a passion. Antique prints are a unique record of the time they were published, a great historical reference, for example if you collect prints of the area where you live you can see the changes made to that area. They also provide an affordable piece of history – you can buy very few other seventeenth century items for under £100. If you collect costume prints you can see how styles change. If you collect a certain type of print for example mezzotints you can see the development of the style. You can collect the works of a different artist – there are so many interesting areas. Another source of great pleasure is the decorative aspect of collecting antique prints. You can enhance your home, make it different and special. When you look at your prints on the wall they will remind you of the thrill of the chase to obtain this lovely item. You could also collect prints which reflect the period your house was built in, if you live in an eighteenth century house you could collect Hogarth prints, a Victorian house could be filled with Victorian prints. Some people collect a theme – we have a client who collects old begonia prints and really enjoys searching for different varieties.

11.Will I need a lot of money to collect original antique prints?

If you want to start collecting you can buy lovely things for as little as £10. It is important to buy something that you like rather than something whose only attraction for you is that you think it may increase in value. The chances are it will increase in value anyway as antique prints are by definition old and hand made and are becoming harder to find. Another important factor is try to buy the best possible example that you can afford. Antique prints in good condition will always make a better investment than items in poor condition.