Help with vintage print blind stamp ID please

According to the link provided by @Chris Drugan ISA-AM, members of the Printsellers' Association had to "declare the exact number of proofs of every plate, and each impression was marked with the Association's oval blind-stamp, containing three letters in the centre which form a code identifying the particular edition".
I doubt that it would be possible to translate the code at this point.

 

Ah, that makes sense Thankyou. I wasn't sure if it identified a person or a place. You have all been very helpful

 

Welcome KSW.

 

Last question, so if the Prinsellers Association was between 1847 and 1920 before it became the Fine Art Guild that makes it at least nearly 100 years old and if John Baker was the engraver he died in 1872 so it could be 150 years plus?.
I had no idea it could be that old- or have I got it wrong and it could it be more recent?

 

From what we can see, it does seem to be consistent with a mid 19th century date. Mezzotints (if that is what it is) were popular up until about that time. A close examination under magnification could confirm the printing technique, and perhaps reveal some characteristics of the paper that might be instructive.

 

Any help?

 

OK. The complex lines are characteristic of steel engravings (not a mezzotint), with perhaps a bit of aquatint on the right side of the 2nd photo. That said, the 19th century was a time of great innovation in printmaking (among other things). The same image could be reproduced with transfer lithography and would appear identical, except for the way the ink lies on the paper. "The greatest single use of transfer lithography came in the second half of the 19th century....A print which has the linear characteristics of a conventional line engraving but the flat ink quality of a lithograph will almost certainly be intaglio transferred to stone." So, it could be an original steel engraving, or might be a transfer lithograph. The Printsellers' Association stamp may be your best evidence that it is an original engraving. I am afraid this is getting beyond my knowledge base, and ability to diagnose through photographs. If you would like to pursue it further, I can recommend an excellent reference by Bamber Gascoigne: How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Inkjet. Thames & Hudson, 2004. ISBN 0-500-28480-6, (from which I took the above quotes).

 

#2manybooks is correct about a "proof"

 

#KSW - "Proof" was correctly answered by #2manybooks

 

I will second this as a wicked excellent resource!

 

Does anyone know how I can check a Printers Association oval stamp with L Z letters inside to check the proof edition? to obtain some history. It is on The Butler Glass etched by W H Boucher