Abbreviations and other Terminology Used

The month and date given reflect the first day of a particular auction. In the case of a multi-day auction, a particular print may have been sold on a later date but all sales from that auction reference only the initial auction date.

Where known, we have inserted the name of the seller and/or purchaser:

1. Where a purchaser’s name is shown without brackets around the name, the identification was contained in the copy (or copies) of the catalogue used by the site creator for that auction.
2. Where a purchaser’s name (or part of a purchaser’s name) is shown without brackets around the name but is followed by a question mark, this indicates a lack of written clarity in the catalogue itself.
3. Where part of a purchaser’s name is shown without brackets and part of the purchaser’s name is shown in brackets, the part of the name without brackets was shown in the auction catalogue in question. The balance of the name in brackets is believed to reflect the particular purchaser in question. Thus, if the catalogue indicated “Clarke,” we have written this as “[Joseph Thacher] Clarke.” Similarly, if the catalogue indicated “Cooper,” we have written this as “[Herbert F. T.] Cooper,” most of whose collection appears to have ended up at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland, and the British Museum. However, where it is clear that the purchaser is a particular person, we have included more of their name than was included in the catalogue without brackets (e.g. even though the auction catalogue may only indicate “Murakami,” we have indicated “Atsushi Murakami,” the full name of the purchaser).
4. Where the purchaser’s name is shown entirely within brackets, this indicates that a later auction catalogue specifies that the print in question was previously purchased at the earlier auction by the person whose name is shown in brackets.
5. Where the purchaser name is shown entirely within brackets with a question mark, this indicates the print was likely acquired by the purchaser based on other purchases at the same auction or as a result of other information (such as that provided in museum volumes which may provide more data on provenance than their website).
6. It should be noted that many of the “purchasers” (such as Kegan Paul, Maggs Bros., Tregaskis, Yamanaka & Co., etc.) were buying for re-sale or were acting as agents for collectors who wished to remain anonymous.  Accordingly, one should not assume that a particular purchaser shown was actually the immediate subsequent owner of the print. Where further information is available concerning the subsequent disposition of a print by its official purchaser, it is reflected in the following manner: “Yamanaka & Co. > J. H. Wade.” Of course, some purchasers wore both collector and dealer hats (such as Tadamasa Hayashi, Ernest Le Veel, Huguette Beres, and others.)

We have not included pricing information on prints since the price of prints for periods prior to the beginning of the 21^st century possesses at best only a prurient interest.  Prices for prints sold in the past 20 years can ordinarily be found at www.artnet.com