RRParks Antique Prints and Collecting and Buying

Buying and Collecting antique prints can be both affordable and fun. During the 1800s, from about 1820 through about 1895 huge numbers of prints were created for the 'average collector' who couldn't afford the extremely expensive original paintings of their favorite artists, but who still wanted to own a piece of artwork. These types of prints were produced for the most part as 'intaglio' prints -- steel plate engravings, copper plate etchings, steel plate photogravures, stone lithographs, wood engravings (which is not intaglio), and later in the 1800s as chromolithographs.
Preservation of antique prints is relatively easy. If you plan on displaying your print in a frame, be sure to have it matted using acid free mattboard. Do not frame any print without using a matt as you run the risk of mildew/mold buildup when the glass is exposed to changes in heat and humidity -- which will 'sweat' on the inside of the glass and right onto your print. A matt provides a gap between the glass and the print and will help prevent this problem from occuring. If you plan on saving your antique print collection in folios or folders or albums, use either (or perhaps both) acid free glassine sheets or Mylar film bags. Glassine can be acquired from most art store or online. Mylar film bags are widely used by geic book collectors for storing their valued treasures and so you can most likely find Mylar at geic book stores or online through Gerber or Bill Cole. Never use PVC (Plolyvinylchloride) bags for protection -- although some are sold as being 'acid free', it isn't the acid in the bags that poses the problem but the plasticizers that over time will turn into a greasy film that will transfer to your prints. Mylar is a special film, not plastic, and is used by the Library of Congress for storage of valuable documents and has a 'shelf life' of at least 100 years. If you have any questions reguarding archival materials for print storage, please feel free to ask.
Buying antique prints online is probably much safer than you might think. I've been collecting since 1988 and have encountered only one credible fake -- for the most part, all modern reproductions are easy to detect, even without experiences. Each type of antique print method (mentioned above) carries with it it's own 'self authenticating' properties. Steel plate engravings have a linework system easily seen using either the naked eye or a simple 8x photo loupe. The same holds true for etchings. Lithographs, while a bit harder to view also carry with them their own self-authenticating trademark 'charcoal' linework appearance under magnification.
Typically, modern reproductions would be either lazer printed (which will have an obvious appearance under magnification) most likely demonstrating either one or more of the following properties: glossy paper, 'jet ink' patterns, thin paper, and have a 'too uniform' appearance to the artwork OR offset, or rather 'surface printed' in which case you'll detect, under magnification, the appearance of many uniform dots as in a magazine or newspaper photo.
When searching for your favorite artists in antique prints, keep in mind that nearly all antique engravings involved numerous artists. So, for example, a "Bartlett Engraving" would have been based on a painting by William Bartlett, engraved by a master engraver who would most likely have had apprentices engraved the skylines either by hand or using a lining engraving, and the print impressed by one of the larger 'production' fascilities or publishers such as Fisher Bros, Appleton, G Virtue, Selmar Hess, Martin Johnson, and so on. Most engravings were done by professional engravers, there are very few engravings at all that were engraved by the original artist because, for the most part, expert painters were not expert engravers -- and expert engravers were not those doing the paintings. Confusing? Not really -- It's much like a coin design -- a master artist created the bust or artwork for the coin, a die-maker engraved the 'plate' for making the coin impression.
When it gees to the subject of signed statements of authenticity -- there are two schools of thought, or two points of view. Some antique print sellers denounce them, others uphold them as valuable. My personal opinion about signed statements of authenticity for 'gemon' (or unsigned, open edition) antique prints is that a buyer is fully entitled to a signed statement, or 'guarantee' that the print they are buying is genuine -- which means that the seller knows from where it came, what folio, what publisher, and so forth. Any seller listing an antique print should be willing to sign a statement that the print is indeed genuine. An honest seller should make such statements available to anyone who has purchased a print and the statements should be free. They are a signed promise by the seller/dealer that the print is real and not a modern reproduction. Furthermore, such statements can carry additional information that the seller knows about a print that may not have been engraved on the print -- many 1800s folios contain dozens of engravings. While the folio is often dated inside, seldom are antique prints dated in the plate themselves, so a signed statement could also include the year as known by the seller. There's no harm in asking for a signed statement and no reason why a seller shouldn't be happy to supply one.
I've been selling antique prints on okay since 1999 and have been asked numerous times about the different types of prints of the 1800s. While the overview below is by no means 'exhaustive' and is subject to opinion in some cases, I think it provides a decent 'start' to understanding the various types of prints produced during the 1800s and late 1700s. I'm more than happy to answer any questions from fellow collectors -- and anybody who wishes to express opinions regarding the information below is more than welgee to email me -- however, I do not collect or deal in signed or numbered editions so can't provide opinions regarding those. My only opinion that I feel gefortable providing with respect to those types of prints is that a buyer should ALWAYS obtain a signed statement of authenticity regarding the artist's signature... or buy directly from the artist himeself or herself.

I've written a brief, 4 page overview of antique prints (which is too large to include here in this 'guide') and you can have a copy of it free by emailing me. Just email me through okay and I'll reply with the guide in regular email format (no attachments). Thanks and good luck with your collection! Richard Parks, RRParks (okay name)