Bishop, Isabel. EIGHT ETCHINGS 1925-1931. Portfolio of eight etchings, published in 1989 by the Sylvan Cole Gallery and Midtown Galleries. Includes T2, T1, T5A, T8, T10B, T10C, T12, and T13. Cloth covered clamshell box with title and introduction, contents and justification (this being #25/50 of the total edition comprising, comprising 50 portfolios, ##1/50-50/50, seven Proof suites ##I/VII-VII/VII, and one each "Whitney Proof," "Bon a Tirer," and "Printer's Proof" sets. ), Published posthumously, with the portfolio number in pencil at the bottom of the justification page, and the eight etchings, each in a separate titled folder, and each numbered 25/50 and with Bishop's signature in facsimile. In very Fine condition, with no signs of wear. Although Isabel Bishop was a prolific printmaker throughout her career, only a few of the prints she did between 1925 and 1978 were published in editions. Bishop herself printed proofs of most of the prints for gifts, sale, or for her own records. There is no record of the number of such proofs, though in most cases it was very small. In 1978 Associated American Artists issued EIGHT ETCHINGS I, the first item in the effort made by Bishop with Sylvan Cole and Stephen Sholinsky to produce editions of all of her prints. Between 1980 and 1988 when Bishop died 56 of her earlier prints had been published by A.A.A. or by the Sylvan Cole Gallery, including sixteen in two subsequent portfolios, EIGHT ETCHINGS II (1981) and ISABEL BISHOP, EIGHT ETCHINGS 1930-1959 (1985); the remaining 40 were published individually, in editions varying between 25 and 75 each. When Bishop moved out of her studio in Union Square in 1895 she made an unsuccessful effort to locate the remaining plates of early etchings, and these were considered lost. After her death in 1988, sixteen additional plates were found by her son, stored inside of copies of National Geographic Magazine. These were published by Cole and Midtown in two portfolios, EIGHT ETCHINGS 1925-1931 and EIGHT ETCHINGS 1927-1934 (For this information about the search for and eventual discovery of these plates I am indebted to Stephen Sholinsky, who printed all of the editions).
