Ault, Alexandra Elizabeth;
(2023)
Proof of the Proof: The Printsellers Association and the Fine Art Print Trade in Nineteenth-Century Britain.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
Abstract
This thesis is a study of the Printsellers Association and the fine art print reproductions they stamped between 1847 and 1920. The Association was founded and run by publishers who were also art dealers, and whose businesses commissioned and sold paintings, prints, photographs and other works of art. Publishers established the Printsellers Association to control the market for proofs which were traditionally prints taken at an early stage of the printing run and sold at an inflated price due to their perceived superior quality as early impressions. Such control of a market meant that the Printsellers Association required every such print to be stamped with a unique code and that all publishers should declare in advance how many prints they would be producing and selling. The administration of this business generated paperwork, forms, lists and publications such as the ‘Alphabetical List of Engravings Declared’ volumes which are regularly quoted from today. Despite these stamped prints being a key way in which art was experienced in the nineteenth century, little is known or understood about the Printsellers Association, their stamp or their publications which are regularly used as evidence to show numbers of prints published. Additionally, little work into where these prints were sold and displayed has been undertaken. This thesis explores the facts and fallacies behind the Printsellers Association, asks what exactly the stamp represented, questions what their publications show in terms of numbers of prints produced, and looks at exactly who purchased them, where they lived, and in some cases, how they were framed and hung on walls.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Proof of the Proof: The Printsellers Association and the Fine Art Print Trade in Nineteenth-Century Britain |
| Language: | English |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of History of Art |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10173962 |
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