10/10/2026
We print editions for a living, so the mechanics of what a limited edition actually is informs everything that comes through our studio. It’s a term we use pretty frequently and so I thought it would be worth explaining plainly. It starts with a quantity that is finite: an edition of 50 means that there are 50 prints, now and forever.
When we complete production on an edition, our screens are reclaimed, any misprints or seconds are destroyed, and the number of works that will ever exist is fixed. There is no returning to print more once an edition sells through. Photo: Austin McManus
Each print is numbered by hand, in pencil, either below the image or on the back (or you might see “en verso”, which means “on the reverse”). The number – 23/50 – tells you where your sheet sits in the run, and the “chop” or small embossed logo will be the record of which printshop printed the edition.
Alongside the numbered edition made for sale, a few proofs also exist. Artist proofs (marked AP) are traditionally the artist’s own to keep; printer’s proofs (PP) belong to the studio that pulled the edition. A serious studio typically caps their quantity at around 10% of the edition each and there is usually an understanding that neither party will try to sell their proofs while the main edition is offered for sale.
A smaller edition size simply means fewer of them exist; twenty-five people are able to acquire and live with the piece rather than five hundred. Nothing more mysterious than that! It’s part of why the edition size is worth knowing before you buy as it tells you exactly how many prints of the work are out there.
Edition size holds very little meaning if care hasn’t been given to selecting materials. We print on archival cotton rag which is industry standard, with water-based acrylic inks, made to be framed or stored for decades. The value of a limited edition is also a promise that the work will still be here in a hundred years, and the quality of materials used determines if that promise can be kept.
A few things worth asking before you buy any edition, from us or anyone: How large is the edition? Is it signed and numbered by hand? What paper and inks were used? Ho