Etchings vs. Engravings. Both engravings and etchings are printmaking techniques involving drawing onto a metal plate. When the work on the plate is complete, the plate is inked and printed on paper thus producing a mirror-image of the original design. For engravings, the artist uses a stylus to draw directly, often very precisely, onto the plate. As a result, engravings have crisper, narrower lines and etchings have broader, fuzzier ones .
Earlier impressions show more detail because the plate is new.
Like all multiples, engravings and etchings evolved as a democratization of art bringing an image to a much wider audience than the one who would see an original work. To a fledgling collector, this practice can be maddening.