Remastered Original™ Photogravures by Edward S. Curtis
A "Remastered Original™" means that we have digitally cleaned up imperfections on the image and worked the subtleties of the negative to achieve the highest quality and richest reproduction possible, while still maintaining Curtis' original intent. These prints have been printed from the original Curtis Studio's glass plate negatives passed down to John Graybill, Curtis' great-grandson.
Depending on the image, vintage originals run from $3,000 to $100,000, putting them out of range for many people and leaving them to be displayed only in private collections and museums. The Curtis Legacy Foundation has printed new photogravures from these negatives, giving you the best reproduction quality available today at a much more reasonable cost. Yes, there are other reproductions on the market, but most are either a lesser quality printing process or made from copying original prints, thus also reproducing the texture of the paper they were originally printed on as well. Every time you make a copy of a copy, it reduces the quality of the print.
You may be asking "what is a photogravure?" Digital (direct to plate) photopolymer gravure printing is done using a photopolymer plate which is printed on directly bypassing the traditional film overlay, resulting in a high-quality plate that can reproduce the detailed continuous tones of a photograph. These types of prints are individually printed... one... at... a... time. Roll on ink—wipe to the right amount of ink—run through the press—wipe the plate totally clean—start inking all over again. You will love the results! It is very difficult to explain the whole process here, so check this for more information on the photogravure process.
