Lithography became popular after about 1820. Its great attraction was that drawing on stone was almost as natural as drawing on paper (compared to the older method of engraving a metal printing plate with sharp tool). Click on the pictures of lithographs at the bottom of this page to have a closer look at some.

Engraving is a new technique in the fifteenth century that consists of a process in which an image is scratched (engraved) onto the wood or metal plate, inked, and printed onto paper. This technique allowed for mass production -- and thus a large and fairly inexpensive circulation -- of the artist's work.

A photogravure is a photographic image produced from an engraving plate.

Photogravure developed in 1850s. The process is rarely used today due to the costs involved, but it produces prints which have the subtlety of a photograph and the art quality of a lithograph.

An antique print is one that was made more than one hundred years ago.

Most, but not all, antique prints on the market today have been removed from books. Not all antique prints have been ripped from books. Many printers made a very good living over the past centuries printing cheaper copies of great works of art. People would buy them for display - just as we now might buy posters to brighten up a room. Many religious prints, in particular were printed and sold to the faithful, who would hang them in their homes to create an aura of piety.