Building a Print Collection: A Guide to Buying Original Prints and Photographs

Patricia Vervoort is an assistant professor of art history at Lakehead
University.

Only a few changes distinguish this edition from the first: a new publisher and price (first edition: Van Nostrand Reinhold Ltd., $9.95), the same nine chapters, index, bibliography, glossary, and resource list, the latter with different addresses and an addition. In this basic guide for the beginning collector, author Glen Warner shares his own experiences.

Chapter One, “Collecting Original Prints,” advises the potential collector to read books and acquire first-hand experience with prints. In Chapter Two, the making of original prints is explained with text and pictures; the newer photo-transfer techniques are not included. “Limited Edition, Numbering and Signing” and “Fakes, Forgeries and Misrepresented Prints” explain terms and cite information on new laws concerning print sellers in New York City. Chapters Five and Six are unchanged, “Becoming a Print Connoisseur” and “Where and How to Buy Prints.” Chapter Seven, “Buying and Selling Prints for Profit,” demonstrates the differences between the two editions. On page 137, in the discussion on contracts with auction firms, the commission of 15 percent on items less than $500 (old edition) is now on items less than $1000. Similar price changes for works by Ansel Adams are mentioned in “Collecting Photographs,” Chapter Eight. The last chapter, “Care and Framing of Original Prints,” is slightly expanded to stress the use of acid-free framing materials.

Intaglio and relief printing are emphasized but treated in a generalized manner; the chapter on photography is even more summary. The best advice is given on page 14: “Caveat emptor,” let the buyer beware. Among the sources a potential collector should consult are catalogues raisonnés, but these are usually compiled for older artists; such information is rarely available on contemporaries. This guide is an introduction that admirably leads the potential collector on to further sources.