Print Collection > Researching Prints

General Histories of Prints

Griffiths, Antony.  Prints and Printmaking.  London: British Museum Publications, 1980; 2^nd edition, 1996.  MDB 87-576. Informative and readable survey of the history of printmaking. 

Hults, Linda C. An Introductory History: The Print in the Western World. Madison, Wisconsin, London: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1996. A comprehensive history of printmaking.  Footnotes and references at the end of each chapter provide an excellent bibliography. MDB+ 96-15076

Mayor, A. Hyatt.  Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures.  New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971.  A remarkable, highly readable survey of the history of prints by A. Hyatt Mayor, former Curator of Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. MDB 72-325; Print Room Desk 73-55; in General Research Division 3-MDB 89-16291

Platzker, David and Elizabeth Wyckoff.  Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Process.  New York: Hudson Hill Press, 2000.  Surveys the history of printmaking, focusing on the effects of technical advances by examining artists and works that expanded the boundaries of various printmaking media. MDB+ 01-2356; in General Research Division 3-MDR+ 01-3275