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1. What is a limited edition?
2. What is a lithograph?
3. What is a color lithograph?
4. What is an offset lithograph?
5. What is a serigraph or silkscreen?
6. What is a giclee?
7. Are there significant quality differences between a giclee, a serigraph and a lithograph?
8. What does 'S/N' mean?
9. Will the value of a limited edition increase like other collector's items?
10. What is meant by the term 'acid-free'?
11. Why does it take longer to get my Limited Edition print than it does to get a poster?
12. What is an Artist's Proof, or what does A/P mean?
13. Why are Limited Edition prints so much more expensive than other prints on the site?
1. What is a limited edition?

A limited edition is a series of identical prints, which are limited to a one-time printing of a certain number of pieces. The artist determines the size of the edition, and usually signs and numbers each individual piece.
2. What is a lithograph?

A lithograph is created using a printing technique based on the principle that oil and water do not mix. Using oil-based ink or a grease crayon, an image is drawn on a flat stone or metal plate. Water is applied to the surface and is repelled by the areas where oil-based images have been drawn. The entire surface is then coated with an oil-based ink that adheres only to the areas drawn in oil, ink or crayon. The image is then printed on paper. Lithography became a popular printing technique because thousands of exact replicas could be made that were like drawings on paper, without degradation of the image.
3. What is a color lithograph?

Color lithography is essentially the same process as basic lithography. In this process, however, the application of each color is printed separately through careful alignment or registration. This process is typically done by computer analysis, and is most frequently used in the production of posters and open edition prints.
4. What is an offset lithograph?

Offset lithography is an industrialized version of the same printing technique as lithography. By using modern printing presses, high-quality reproductions are produced faster and in higher volumes than with manually-produced lithographs.
5. What is a serigraph or silkscreen?

Silkscreening, which was introduced around 1907, presses ink through a fine screen onto paper. A stencil of an image is placed on a taut screen with paper underneath. Ink is then spread on top and forced through the screen onto the paper with a squeegee. Unlike photo-offset, silkscreens (also called serigraphs) allow the artist to vary the colors and patterns while printing.
6. What is a giclee?

Giclée (pronounced "zhee-clay") is a French word meaning "a spraying of ink.” With the advent of giclée, the art of reproducing fine art has become even more precise. Giclées have the highest apparent resolution available today -- as high as 1,800 dots per inch. In addition, since no screens are used, the prints have a higher apparent resolution than lithographs and a color range that exceeds that of serigraphy. Displaying a full color spectrum, giclée prints capture every nuance of an original and have gained wide acceptance from artists and galleries throughout the world.

The patented printing technology utilizes microscopically fine droplets of ink to form the image. A print can consist of nearly 20 billion ink droplets. The microscopic droplets of ink vary in sizes (approximately the size of a red blood cell) and density. This unique patented feature produces a near continuous tone image, smoother gradation between tones, and a more finely differentiated color palette.
7. Are there significant quality differences between a giclee, a serigraph and a lithograph?

In terms of resolution, a giclee print has the highest resolution and color range.

Giclee printmaking offers one of the highest degrees of accuracy and richness of color available in any reproductions technique. Giclée printmaking provides a luminosity and brilliance that represents the artist's original work better than any reproduction technique available today.

A serigraph is created when paint is 'pushed' through a silkscreen onto paper or canvas. A different screen is used for each color in the print, and this results in a print with great color density and many qualities of the original piece in terms of color saturation. This process also adds some texture to the final product.

A lithograph is the least manually intensive reproduction technique, and in turn, is not as expensive as a serigraph or giclee. Although images can have a high resolution, and excellent appearance, they will not have the same degree of resolution or color density as a serigraph or giclee.
8. What does 'S/N' mean?

S/N is a symbol used to indicate that a limited edition has been signed and numbered by the artist himself/herself.
9. Will the value of a limited edition increase like other collector's items?

By their nature of being limited in number, demand for certain limited edition prints can be greater than the number of reproductions produced for the edition. Once an edition is sold out from the publisher, which means that the print is no longer available from the publisher but may still be available from an authorized dealer, the prints are considered to be on the Secondary Market. This means that the print can be bought and sold by any dealer or individual, often above issue price, depending on supply and demand.
10. What is meant by the term 'acid-free’?

Acid-free paper or canvas has been treated to neutralize its natural acidity in order to protect fine art and photographic prints from discoloration and deterioration.
11. Why does it take longer to get my limited edition print than it does to get a poster?

We order each limited edition from the publisher upon immediate demand. Therefore, we must take shipping time into account. In the event that you choose to have us frame your limited edition print, we must also allow time to custom frame your print to your exact specifications.
12. What is an artist's proof, or what does A/P mean?
A small group of prints set aside from an edition for an artist's or printer's use. Typically some of the first prints pulled from a limited edition of prints are marked as an A.P. and [sometimes] left unnumbered. Artist's proofs generally draw a higher price than other impressions.
13. Why are limited edition prints so much more expensive than other prints on your website?

The premium price of limited editions is a function of the limited supply of each product, and the exceptionally high quality of these prints. Typically, the more manually intensive the process is, the more each limited edition print will cost.
Updated November 9, 2004
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