Proofs

Before a printing forme began turning out stamps for the post, trial impressions were taken from it. They served to judge the drawing, the colour and the impression — and so were usually printed in a colour other than the definitive one and on better paper, to show what the forme could do rather than what the paper allowed. For the study of the plates they have a particular value: they capture the forme in a state that wear has not yet touched, and sometimes before the last alterations were made to it.

Field 96/I — a blue proof on coated paper

Proof of the 15h, field 96 of plate I — A proof of the 15h in blue, imperforate, on coated paper. Stamp field 96 of the first printing plate.

Shade	blue — a colour in which the stamp never appeared
Paper	coated, smooth and white; against the rough paper of the ordinary printing it holds a far finer image
Format	imperforate, with wide margins
Stamp field	96 / plate I
State of the plate	the impression is sharp throughout — the plate was not yet worn

The difference from an ordinary stamp is obvious at once. On the rough paper of the ordinary printing the fine hatching of the trees and roofs merges into solid areas; on coated paper it stays separated. The same holds for the outlines of the ornament: on production copies they tend to be thickened or broken, here they are thin and continuous. The proof therefore serves not merely as a collector's rarity but as a reference image — it shows what the drawing looked like before plate wear and the qualities of the paper began to take from it.

Compared with the production field 96/I

The proof beside the production field 96/I — The proof on the left, the same field 96/I from the ordinary printing on the right. Both images are aligned on the frame of the design and are at the same scale.

Between the proof and the production run the design of this field was worked on. The difference is therefore not one of sharpness alone: the forme was still being altered between the two impressions. Two changes are recorded.

1 · Retouch of the spiral — from Is to IIs

The deciding spiral is in the top left corner of the design — the left one of the pair in the corner ornament, the same one the Fifth-design types page describes as the type feature. On the proof it is open (Is): the inner coil runs round and ends free. In production it is closed (IIs) — the coil shuts into a full ring. On this field, then, the spiral type is not a property of the original cliché but the result of a later alteration — which matters for how the types on plates I and II are read. An overview of the fields and of both types is on the Fifth-design types page.

The type spiral in the top left corner — proof and production — The type spiral in the top left corner of the design: the proof on the left, the production printing on the right. The left spiral of the pair is the one that decides — on the proof its inner coil ends free (open, Is), in production it closes into a full ring (closed, IIs).

A question follows that we cannot yet answer: are the nine fields of plate I that carry the open spiral in production as well (2, 21, 22, 23, 49, 83, 91, 92, 94) precisely the fields that this alteration passed by? Further proofs from the same plate could answer it.

2 · Alteration of the fan at the right-hand dove

Detail of the right-hand dove — proof and production — The right-hand dove in the lower corner of the design: the proof on the left, the production printing on the right. The fan to the right of the bird is drawn differently in the two impressions.

The second alteration concerns the fan to the right of the right-hand dove. On the proof the rays of the fan are longer and clearly separated from one another; in production the fan is drawn differently. Part of the difference is down to the paper and to wear, but the outline of the fan differs even where the production impression is still legible.

The vertical borders of the design — proof and production — The vertical borders of the design at the same scale, from the left: the left border of the proof and of the production printing, then the right border of each. They serve for comparing the ornament as a whole — the sharpness of the proof shows along the entire border.

Why proofs matter for the study of the plates

A reference state. They show the design before wear began to take from it. Anything missing or thickened on a production copy can be measured against them.
They separate retouch from wear. When an element differs in shape between proof and production, wear is not the explanation — the plate was altered in between. That is exactly the case of the spiral on this field.
They date the development of the plate. A proof is a fixed point before production began. The stages of the plate flaws the site follows at the crack at 11/II or among the white spots can be reckoned from it.
They establish what is original. For a disputed deviation they answer whether it was in the plate from the outset or appeared during use.

This section will grow. Every further proof will get a part of its own with the same structure: a description of the item, a comparison with the corresponding production field, and an account of what happened to the plate between the two impressions.