A brief summary of the etching process

Contemporary etching has been developed by artists to produce individual images as unique as paintings.

It is a means of incising marks into a metal plate with a corrosive solution. The plate is covered with an acid resistant ground through which the artist scratches a design, revealing the bare metal below. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath that cuts the incised lines, grooves and textures into the plate. Once the plate has been bitten sufficiently and the ground removed, ink is rubbed into the grooves and the excess wiped away. It is then printed under great pressure onto dampened paper by means of an etching press.

What is an original print? (Definitions)

One-of-a-kind print in which the artist personally conceived the image, created the master and executed the entire printing process.
(www.progressiveart.com/art_terms.htm)

A print whose concept and execution is, by strictest definition, done entirely by the artist, who usually signs and numbers the resulting limited edition. This is distinct from an "arm's length reproduction" which occurs with the transfer from one technique to another, such as the offset printing of a photograph of a painting. Direct involvement by the artist is key here. ...
(www.artophile.com/glossary.htm)

An image produced from a stone, plate, block or such-like that has been directly worked on by an artist. It is the visual expression of an idea where the artist chooses a printmaking process as the best expression of that idea as opposed to other fine art processes such as painting, sculpture, pastel etc. Such a choice does not differ from the choice to work in oil or another medium.
(www.portjacksonpress.com.au/pjpglossary.php)

A multiple-original impression made from a plate, stone, wood block, or screen by an artist or made under the artist's supervision. Prints are usually made in editions, with each print numbered and signed by the artist.
(www.marilynfenn.com/glossary_materials.html)

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ORIGINAL PRINT AND A REPRODUCTION?  [From "Originals 04" Catalogue].

"What is it about the artist's fine art print that makes it an original work of art?

Two answers: conceptual and technical.

An artist's print is an 'original' because it was conceived as a print. It is not merely a copy of a work already created in another medium. It is a work in its own right, intended to be a print from its conception. Thus it is essential that the artist initiated and controlled every aspect of the creative and printing process.

The technical point is that an original print is always the exact size, colour and medium the artist worked in, because it is 'the work'; the reproduction print, however limited, may well differ in all these respects from the original work it is taken from.

The important thing is not to get confused between an 'original print' and a 'limited edition reproduction'. There is a tidal wave of photo-mechanical reproductions available, asserting that because they use an artistic medium (silkscreen, lithography, giclee), they are therefore also original prints. But originality is defined not by the technique, but by the artist's intentions."