A Guide To Collecting Antique Historical Prints

Pamphlet

Christopher W. Lane is co-owner of The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd., purveyors of antique prints, maps and related books. As owner of The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd., Chris purchases, sells and appraises antique prints, maps and related books. He also researches and writes catalogues for the Print Shop. Chris has given lectures around the country on various topics, including natural history prints, Currier & Ives, prints of Niagara Falls, and maps. Amongst these lectures were several to prints and map societies, at The Pennsylvania Historical Society, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Library of Congress, and at major antique shows around the country.

In 1991, Chris was on the panel of experts for the American Historical Print Collectors Societys project of the New Best 50 Currier & Ives prints. Chris interest in Currier & Ives prints stems not from a collecting inclination but rather from his philosophical interest in Currier & Ives as the archetypical American popular prints.

Besides the Print Shop catalogues, Chris has had many articles published in antique show catalogues. He has authored articles which were published in international map journals, and his article A Comparison of the Original and New Best 50 Currier & Ives, was published in the 1991 American Historical Print Collectors Society publication, Currier & Ives. The New Best 50. In 1995 he began writing a series of booklets on print and map collecting, including What is a print?, A Guide To Collecting Antique Historical Prints, and A Guide To Collecting Antique Maps.

In 1993, Chris wrote a book, Impressions of Niagara, documenting the Charles Rand Penney Collection of Niagara Falls prints. This is likely the largest single collection of these prints, with over 700 images contained in it. Chris book contains a complete detailed listing of each image, as well as an historical essay on the history of prints of Niagara Falls, and the book is now being cited as the standard reference on the subject. At the same time as aut