Prints by Technique

Antique prints by technique

This section organises our stock by printmaking and drawing technique, from copperplate engraving and etching to lithography, woodcut and watercolour. It is useful for collectors researching a specific process or building a collection around one medium, such as steel engraving or mezzotint. Every piece across these pages is an original period work, described individually with its technical details and measurements.

Subcategories

Copperplate Engravings

Antique copperplate engravings
Copperplate engraving, worked with the burin directly into a copper plate, is the technique behind the largest part of our stock, spanning 1560 to 1940. It includes topographical views by Pieter van der Aa, satirical plates by John Goldar, religious subjects by Vicente Capilla and Flaxman's outline illustrations for the Iliad.
The category suits collectors focused on this classic intaglio technique across any subject, period or country. Every engraving is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Steel Engravings

Antique steel engravings
Steel engraving, which allowed finer lines and far longer print runs than copper, was the technique of choice for the great illustrated travel books of the nineteenth century. This selection includes Rheinstein Castle on the Rhine, Lowther Castle by Thomas Allom, Interlaken by W. Finden and Furness Abbey, dated between 1814 and 1893.
The category interests collectors focused on this technique and on the golden age of steel-engraved topography. Every piece is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Etchings

Antique etchings
Etching, worked with acid on a wax-coated plate, gave printmakers a freer, more painterly line than engraving. This selection spans 1613 to 1996 and includes Goya's Caprichos, Waterloo's seventeenth-century wooded landscape, plates by Pieter van der Aa and Laurent Cars, and a signed twentieth-century abstract composition.
The category suits collectors focused on this technique across any period or subject, from Old Master landscapes to Goya's satire. Every etching is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Lithographs

Antique lithographs
Lithography, printed from a drawing worked directly onto stone, allowed for both fine detail and rich colour. This selection spans 1652 to 1981 and includes hand-coloured fashion plates by Jules David, a military uniform print, a portrait of the playwright Eugène Scribe after Nadar, and later lithographs by Pablo Picasso.
The category interests collectors focused on this technique, from Paris-printed fashion and portraiture to twentieth-century artist prints. Every lithograph is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Woodcuts

Antique woodcuts
Woodcut, the oldest relief printing technique, remained in wide use through the nineteenth century for illustrated magazines and book plates. This selection spans 1770 to 1979 and includes a slave market in Egypt for El Mundo Ilustrado, plateresque street scenes by Pedro Marco, and a signed 1974 psalm illustration by Jozef Bossaert.
The category suits collectors focused on relief printing across any period or subject. Every woodcut is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Photogravures and...

Antique photogravures and heliogravures
Photogravure and heliogravure use photographic processes to reproduce a drawing or painting with exceptional fidelity, a technique Charles Amand-Durand made his specialty in Paris. This selection spans 1773 to 1910 and includes Abraham and the Three Angels after Van Leyden, the Nativity after Dürer, and a portrait after Gainsborough by Hanfstaengl.
The category interests collectors seeking accurate period reproductions of Old Master drawings. Every piece is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Chromolithographs

Antique chromolithographs
Chromolithography, printed in successive colour stones without hand-colouring, produced some of the richest illustrated plates of the later nineteenth century. This selection spans 1862 to 1939 and includes Philip II's equestrian armour, Barcelona's Saint Eulalia banner, the Codex Vigilanus and musicians from the Cantigas de Alfonso X, several by M. Pujadas.
The category suits collectors focused on this vivid colour technique, from heraldry to costume history. Every chromolithograph is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Aquatints, Mezzotints...

Antique aquatints, mezzotints and drypoints
This small category brings together three related tonal techniques prized for their soft, painterly depth: aquatint, mezzotint and drypoint. It includes a mezzotint portrait of the Marquess of Lansdowne by H. Cook after Lawrence, a Debucourt aquatint after Hippolyte Lecomte, and mezzotints after Van Dyck and Lely by James McArdell, dated between 1790 and 1836.
The category suits collectors focused on these tonal intaglio techniques and on eighteenth-century portraiture. Every piece is an original period impression, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Original Drawings

Antique original drawings
Unlike our printed stock, this category holds unique, one-of-a-kind works on paper: pencil drawings and watercolours by named and anonymous hands. This selection spans 1809 to 1988 and includes the ruins of Lindisfarne Priory, wooded ground at Whitshaugh in Scotland, the Cheesewring in Cornwall and Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire.
The category interests collectors who value the immediacy of an original drawing over a printed edition. Each piece is a unique original work, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Watercolours and Gouaches

Antique watercolours and gouaches
This category gathers unique, hand-painted watercolours and gouaches, largely by the English school, spanning 1770 to 1998. It includes a road and church tower dated 1885, a snow-covered pine wood signed T. Pye, a river landscape with cattle, and coastal scenes by anonymous nineteenth-century painters.
The category suits collectors who prefer the softness and immediacy of watercolour to a printed line. Each piece is a unique original work, with a technical description and exact measurements.
Antique Photographs

Antique photographs
This category holds original photographs rather than printed engravings, spanning 1897 to 1966: press photographs of performers such as Milva and June Richmond, stage designs by Bernard Buffet for Carmen in Marseille, and early postcards of Alicante by the Roisin studio.
It suits collectors of theatre, film and press history, and anyone seeking an image of a specific town or performer. Each photograph is an original period print, with a technical description and measurements.
Facsimiles and...

Antique facsimiles and reproductions
This category is reserved for facsimiles and period reproductions rather than original prints: a facsimile of the Gunpowder Plot letter to Lord Monteagle, royal signatures from Spain's Arab and Christian periods, and engravings after Goya and after Juan Gálbez's scenes of Buenos Aires, dated between 1829 and 1967.
The category suits collectors who value the historical content of these documents as much as an original impression. Each item is clearly described as a facsimile or reproduction, with measurements.