Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections & Reading Rooms > Print Collection

Collection Description

The most accessible print room in New York City, the Print Collection of The New York Public Library encompasses a specialized reference collection of over 15,000 volumes on the history of prints and printmakers; artist clipping files; and a collection of close to 200,000 original prints, ranging from woodcuts, engravings, etchings, lithographs and screenprints to digital prints, covering the history of the art in the West from the 15th century to the present, and Japanese prints from the 10th century to the present. The collection also includes illustrated books, artists’ books, and a small collection of drawings.

The Print Collection is a comprehensive collection of original works of art on paper, organized by printmaker, unlike the Picture Collection in the Mid-Manhattan Library, a picture resource made up primarily of reproductions and arranged by subject. Among the collection’s strengths are its holdings of 19th- and 20th-century American prints, with a particular focus on New York artists, and 18th- and 19th-century Japanese color woodcuts.

Of special note are the Avery Collection, comprised of approximately 18,000 primarily 19th-century prints donated in 1900 by Samuel Putnam Avery; a significant survey of 18th- and 19th-century American and European political cartoons and caricature; a rich collection of American historical prints, including The Phelps Stokes Collection, and the Eno Collection of New York City views; as well as the continually growing holdings of contemporary prints.

See also the Brief History of the Print Collection. For information regarding photographs in the Library, see the Photography Collection.