With original gravure prints the image, the tactile quality of etching ink on paper, and the printing style are inseparable parts of the artwork. The Secret Life of Original Prints, by Roger H Boulet. Prints do possess qualities unique to them. Ink can become one with the paper that absorbed it or it can appear to float lightly on it, or on another layer of ink. Ink can be richly textured, or so sparse and incisive that it appears to cut the paper.
Ink can shine or shimmer, or lie flat and still.
The fact that this work of art consists of several originals means that one can acquire a print without taking the image out of circulation. To be the sole proprietor of a work of art puts more distance between it and its owner, as its uniqueness makes it something to be enshrined, untouchable. But prints are a form of shared experience. Prints yield their secrets only little by little with the growth of the collector's knowledge and sensitivity to their unique qualities, qualities specific to the processes that have been utilized in their making. The art market quite understandably perpetuates the belief that the rarity of a work of art should be met by a rare price.