DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73059#0021
Hints on Collecting Prints.
quantity for the price of waste paper. The interesting books were plentiful enough when
first published, but in being passed from hand to hand were gradually thumbed out of
existence ; while their heavier neighbours were perhaps hardly ever opened. The same with
engravings : pleasingly-treated and beautifully-executed subjects have always been popular,
and, although not altogether thumbed out of existence, they have endured some equivalent
ill-treatment in the shape of damage and destruction caused by framing, varnishing,
chopping round or cutting out, and sticking into scrap-books. Hence really beautiful
examples of old engravings in good condition are, by reason of their rarity as well as of
their charm, always worthy the careful attention of the collector.
The writer began, from the pure love of it, to collect prints more than twenty years
ago, and from first to last a large number has passed through his hands. He started with
the vague idea that a print was a print, only some perhaps prettier and more striking than,
others, and therefore to be more coveted. He only partly understood the reason why a
single example of a fine, bright engraving—say a mezzotint portrait—should bring twenty,
thirty, fifty guineas or more under the hammer at Christie's or Sotheby's ; while a mis-
cellaneous lot of old engravings in a sale at Puttick's (the same thing has occurred
repeatedly at Christie's and Sotheby's) realize but a few shillings. The purchase of a few of
these miscellaneous cheap lots was first indulged in, and evening after evening was spent in
their almost microscopical examination. The lots consisted principally of what collectors
designate as rubbish, i.e. torn, stained, damaged, close cut, or inferior impressions, and prints
by artists of little or no repute. Bryan's valuable " Dictionary of Painters and Engravers,"
was always at hand for reference; and every engraver whose name, monogram, or mark
appeared on a print, was at once turned up and carefully conned. This system of purchas-
ing miscellaneous lots went on for a considerable time; what were considered the best
examples being put on one side, to form a nucleus of a collection. In course of time some
hundredweights of rubbish had accumulated, and the mass was sent back to the auction-
room with instructions to sell without reserve. When thus disposed of, and the commis-
sion for selling deducted, it realized very nearly the aggregate of the small sums originally
disbursed ; so that for an insignificant outlay, opportunities had been afforded—of which
full advantage had been taken—to make a close study of the style and works of a number
of engravers. An acquaintance to some extent had also been made with the various
classes or descriptions of engraving, to one only of which—line, mezzotint, stipple, or
etching—the collector often eventually gives his principal attention.
The purchase of more select, and necessarily more expensive, lots followed, these
in turn being submitted to a still closer and more critical examination, and the unsuitable
examples eventually finding their way back to one of the sale-rooms for re-sale at any
price that they would fetch. Single examples were purchased at comparatively high
prices, when their value became sufficiently appreciated. In buying miscellaneous cheap
lots, it is not very often that any treasures crop up; but occasionally a windfall* does
* The practice of " baiting" a lot of rubbish with one or two plums is not by any means unknown to auctioneers'
cataloguers, but the fact remains that fine prints are occasionally picked up in this way.
occur, and on more than one occasion the writer has found a valuable proof—sometimes
several—in parcels which were considered to be of no value.
5 Where
quantity for the price of waste paper. The interesting books were plentiful enough when
first published, but in being passed from hand to hand were gradually thumbed out of
existence ; while their heavier neighbours were perhaps hardly ever opened. The same with
engravings : pleasingly-treated and beautifully-executed subjects have always been popular,
and, although not altogether thumbed out of existence, they have endured some equivalent
ill-treatment in the shape of damage and destruction caused by framing, varnishing,
chopping round or cutting out, and sticking into scrap-books. Hence really beautiful
examples of old engravings in good condition are, by reason of their rarity as well as of
their charm, always worthy the careful attention of the collector.
The writer began, from the pure love of it, to collect prints more than twenty years
ago, and from first to last a large number has passed through his hands. He started with
the vague idea that a print was a print, only some perhaps prettier and more striking than,
others, and therefore to be more coveted. He only partly understood the reason why a
single example of a fine, bright engraving—say a mezzotint portrait—should bring twenty,
thirty, fifty guineas or more under the hammer at Christie's or Sotheby's ; while a mis-
cellaneous lot of old engravings in a sale at Puttick's (the same thing has occurred
repeatedly at Christie's and Sotheby's) realize but a few shillings. The purchase of a few of
these miscellaneous cheap lots was first indulged in, and evening after evening was spent in
their almost microscopical examination. The lots consisted principally of what collectors
designate as rubbish, i.e. torn, stained, damaged, close cut, or inferior impressions, and prints
by artists of little or no repute. Bryan's valuable " Dictionary of Painters and Engravers,"
was always at hand for reference; and every engraver whose name, monogram, or mark
appeared on a print, was at once turned up and carefully conned. This system of purchas-
ing miscellaneous lots went on for a considerable time; what were considered the best
examples being put on one side, to form a nucleus of a collection. In course of time some
hundredweights of rubbish had accumulated, and the mass was sent back to the auction-
room with instructions to sell without reserve. When thus disposed of, and the commis-
sion for selling deducted, it realized very nearly the aggregate of the small sums originally
disbursed ; so that for an insignificant outlay, opportunities had been afforded—of which
full advantage had been taken—to make a close study of the style and works of a number
of engravers. An acquaintance to some extent had also been made with the various
classes or descriptions of engraving, to one only of which—line, mezzotint, stipple, or
etching—the collector often eventually gives his principal attention.
The purchase of more select, and necessarily more expensive, lots followed, these
in turn being submitted to a still closer and more critical examination, and the unsuitable
examples eventually finding their way back to one of the sale-rooms for re-sale at any
price that they would fetch. Single examples were purchased at comparatively high
prices, when their value became sufficiently appreciated. In buying miscellaneous cheap
lots, it is not very often that any treasures crop up; but occasionally a windfall* does
* The practice of " baiting" a lot of rubbish with one or two plums is not by any means unknown to auctioneers'
cataloguers, but the fact remains that fine prints are occasionally picked up in this way.
occur, and on more than one occasion the writer has found a valuable proof—sometimes
several—in parcels which were considered to be of no value.
5 Where