This book comprises contributions from individual printmakers, richly
illustrated with examples of their work and studios. Each of the nearly
seventy participants (all members of London's Royal Society of
Painter-Printmakers, including several Royal Academicians) has been
allocated a double page in which to offer an intimate insight into his
or her working procedures, giving the reader the illusion of witnessing
- behind the scenes as it were - the daily creative striving of the
artist and the patient technical procedures that often underpin
it. Their revelations range from the story of a near encounter
with Picasso to the benefits of S. W. Hayter's uncompromising tuition
at the celebrated Atelier 17 and from the taxing preparation of a
mezzotint plate to the acceptance of the sometimes unforeseen but
ultimately happy outcome of printing large collagraph images.

An exhibition related to this book ('Out of the
Sketchbook') will be held at the Bankside Gallery in London to coincide
with the book's publication. This is a valuable resource for
students, practising printmakers, and collectors of artists' original
prints.