What are these old prints - book printers proofs?

Discussion in 'Ephemera and Photographs' started by Bookahtoo, Aug 23, 2020.

  1. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    I have about 15 of these old prints. They are about 7" by 10" (I didn't actually measure them and don't have them here :(. Anyway, about book size, but they don't look like they were ever bound into anything.
    Several of them have multiple numbers written, and sometimes crossed off on them.
    Could these be printers proofs where they were trying to figure out colors or something?

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    Bookahtoo, Aug 23, 2020
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  2. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Maybe instructions to the binder about where to place the prints?
     
    Bronwen, Aug 23, 2020
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  3. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Well aren't you brilliant! And color just means that they are to be in color.
     
    Bookahtoo, Aug 23, 2020
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  4. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    The artist signature on the first and last images seems to be the same. That may or may not matter to your purpose, just thought it might be worth a mention. ;)
     
    Bakersgma, Aug 23, 2020
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  5. Figtree3

    Figtree3 What would you do if you weren't afraid?

    Hans of Iceland (publ. 1823 as Han d'Islande) and The Man Who Laughs (publ. 1869 as L'Homme Qui Rit) are both novels written by Victor Hugo. Since they were originally published so far apart in time and the writing is in English, I'll guess that these prints might be for an English-language collected works type of publication of the late 19th century? Or perhaps published as a series of volumes not called "collected works." -- Wait, I notice they have volume numbers penciled in at the bottom, so collected works seems more likely.
     
    Figtree3, Aug 23, 2020
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  6. Figtree3

    Figtree3 What would you do if you weren't afraid?

    And I see what looks like "Les Mes" at the bottom of one of them. Perhaps Les Misérables?
     
    Figtree3, Aug 23, 2020
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  7. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Thank you Bakers and Fid. Off to look for collected works set with original illustrations.
     
    Bookahtoo, Aug 23, 2020
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  8. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Of course there are 10 million sets....
    But this one must have at least 23 volumes.
    Would the multiple numbers on a picture mean that the same printer did at least that many issues of the book with that particular print?
     
    Bookahtoo, Aug 23, 2020
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  9. Figtree3

    Figtree3 What would you do if you weren't afraid?

    I don't know the answer to that. Interesting question!

    Maybe you could try adding the illustrators' names to your search? Not sure if that would help but maybe.
     
    Figtree3, Aug 23, 2020
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  10. Bookahtoo

    Bookahtoo Moderator Moderator

    Thanks fig.

    I suppose I might be able to figure out which set these came from, and what dates they were used, if I really tried. But, I guess at this point my question should really be, would the numbers on these make them any more valuable? Or less?

    Would anyone want one of these either way? With or without penciled marks?

    I must say the colors are very nicely done.
     
    Bookahtoo, Aug 23, 2020
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  11. Figtree3

    Figtree3 What would you do if you weren't afraid?

    Good questions, and I wish that I knew the answers. As a general consumer I would probably prefer them without the marks, but somebody else might like them with marks for historical purposes.
     
    Figtree3, Aug 23, 2020
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  12. 2manycats

    2manycats Well-Known Member

    These MAY be examples for hand-colorists, so that each print colored would have the same color scheme, and the numbers, very maybe, something to do with who was coloring or how many were completed. But those are very tenuous guesses.

    Some of them are clearly volume numbers from a collected works set, of which, as you note there are...many. And some might be page placement directions for binders, but they would know where that would be, so there'd be only one, not several with some crossed out.

    Because they don't affect the image, they could easily be 'matted out' in framing, so I don't think the value (not all that high, in my experience), would be affected by the numbers, which, unless one could figure out some interesting meaning, certainly don't add any value.
     
    2manycats, Aug 23, 2020
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  13. evelyb30

    evelyb30 Well-Known Member

    Highest price would probably come from a Hugo collector. My first thought was the numbers being page placements. I'm betting they'd be a fairly easy sell, especially the Les Mis stuff. The cast from the film would probably love to get their hands on them!
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/fullcredits
     
    evelyb30, Aug 23, 2020
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