Used to distinguish prints that are original creations, for example prints by Rembrandt or Dürer, from "reproductive prints," which are intended to copy a painting or drawing for mass circulation. In other contexts, for prints produced with the intention of their being works of art, simply use "prints." In the 1960s, the term "original print" was defined by the Print Council of America as those prints for which the artist alone had created the plate or other master image to print from, and that photomechanical processes were not be used. Modern printmaking techniques blur this artistic distinction, but the term is still used to make the distinction with 17th- to 19th-century reproductive prints.
