Thoughts on limited editions

[chris jordan]

Hi friends, I was just tapping out an e-mail to a friend on the subject of limited editions and I thought I'd share part of it here in case it might be helpful to someone. These are just my own opinions of course, but I do know that this is how many people in the art world think about this subject. This is written to a friend who is offering his B&W prints in editions of 100:

One small point of suggestion: I think an edition of 100 prints is too big. The most successful contemporary photographers in the world can't (and won't) sell 100 prints of an image, unless it's cheesy wall art for the masses, which your work definitely isn't. I think making the edition that big can take the magic and power away from the limited-edition concept. If the edition is five or ten or fifteen or whatever, that can carry a legitimate sense of scarcity, urgency and substance to it because the edition is likely to sell out. But a limited edition of 100 is kind of like a limited edition of 25,000-- it poses as a limited edition but there is no real sense of added value in it because it will never sell out, so practically it is the same as an open edition.

I think doing small editions can also convey something about how you value the work-- it suggests that each print is precious to you, and also that you trust yourself to move on to other work once these ones are sold out and done with. Limiting your editions to small numbers that will sell out within a year or two is a way of pushing yourself artistically, almost like a discipline-- cutting the safety net out from under you and forcing you to keep creating, which people will respect you for.

There is also a tremendous value in selling out the editions of your best work-- that instantly makes all of your work more valuable. To have some of your editions sold out can infuse a show, and your career, with a sense of electricity and life, which in the long run is far more valuable than whatever amount of extra money you might have made with larger editions (which probably is an illusion anyway).

Just my $0.02 for the day.

Cheers from Seattle,

~cj

www.chrisjordan.com

[John_4185]

All my work this month has been limited editions.

I take a picture.

Develop the neg.

Call an arbitrary phone number, and tell the person about it, even if they hang up.

Throw negative in the trash.

I highly recommend the practice.

[Paddy Quinn]

the good thing about this system is that if you find the edition does become really popular and/or you find you need more funds because your expenses have increased, you can always do a Michael Smith and unilaterally increase the number of works in the edition after the fact

[Capocheny]

Paddy,

The problem with doing what you're suggesting though... is that, "Can it truly be deemed a limited edition?"

Personally speaking, if I bought a piece of art premised on it being a "limited edition" of, say, x/10 prints and, a short while later, saw the same print with a higher number (x/50)... I'm not so sure I'd be all that pleased with the artist. As a collector, I think I'd feel as if I'd been deceived in the first place and return it. After all, doesn't "limited" mean "limited?"

I may be off base here but this is just my opinion... but I think others would be inclined to feel the same way.

Chris, I agree with you in regards to an edition of 100 but I don't think 25 would be an insurmountable edition to sell out... I guess it would also depend on the image and the method of marketing involved.

Just my opinion...

Cheers

[Bill_1856]

Any idea of how many "Moonrise" prints Adams made? It had to be his best seller. And how about "Clearing Winter Storm," surely his number two?

[QT Luong]

If someone is sucessful enough at selling prints that he sells in the hundreds, does it make automatically his photography "cheesy wall art for the masses" ? Is it how you would characterize St Ansel's prints ?

[John Kasaian]

I abhor the notion that anything worthy should be contrived to be limited for profit. That would be like cutting back on avian flu vaccines in order to drive up the price of doses.

OTOH, how many photographers have the stamina (or desire) to hand print one hundred painstakingly high quality prints from the same negative? I sure don't.

I'd number and date my prints(the good ones) and leave it at that. The Buyer would know that this is the xxth print of that negative, a print that you've personally fished out of the soup and matted. What more can they ask for?

[Paddy Quinn]

Henry,

that was my point

This is what Michael Smith did with his "Collectors Limited Edition" books. He claimed his costs had gone up so he unilaterally increased the number in the "edition" (from 100 to 250 or some such - i didn't hurt that it was also apparently becoming quite a popular little series), even though many had already subscribed to the edition on the original terms.

This did ineed lead to some collectors/subscribers becoming rather annoyed....

[Graeme Hird]

Don't do it! Why limit your future income from your best negs?

Having said that, I have a couple of Limited Editions of my own, but they are images I'm not particularly fond of: I don't care if I never make more of them in the future, since I can always go back and make better ones at the locations later.

Cheers,
Graeme

[george jiri loun]

The more unlimited my editions are, the better for me.