When a photographer releases a new image as a limited edition print, test prints are made, often in different sizes or on different types of paper before an edition is created.
These pre-edition prints are known as Artist Proofs.
The number of artist proofs created is usually 10% of the size of an edition i.e. if an edition is 50 there is likely to be 5 artist proofs.
Often once the edition is sold out, these numbered or un-numbered Artist Proofs are sold for an end-of-edition price.
Being customised or rare they are often highly collectable.
Bruce Springsteen performing in 1973 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia as the opening act for Chicago.
Bruce Springsteen performing in 1973 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia as the opening act for Chicago.
Bruce Springsteen performing in 1973 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia as the opening act for Chicago.
Bruce Springsteen at his first photo shoot at Columbia Records, New York in 1973
Bruce Springsteen at his first photo shoot at Columbia Records, New York in 1973
Madonna at the start of her career in October 1982 in Greenwich Village, New York
Madonna on an early photo shoot in Grenwich Village, New York in October 1982.
An early shot of Madonna taken in October 1982 in Soho, New York City.
Madonna in October 1982 photographed outside St Anthony's Church in New York.
Madonna in October 1982 on one of her earliest photo shoots in Soho, New York
Madonna posing on Greenwich Street, New York on an early photo shoot in October 1982
Madonna in October 1982 photographed on Houston Street, New York
Shooting promotional films for the singles Rain & Paperback Writer at Chiswick Park Gardens in May 1966
This photo session was for No.1 Magazine (long since extinct) on a Eurythmics press day, they’d been doing interviews all day.
Sex Pistols on the set for the 'Pretty Vacant' video shoot at the ITN Studios, London in June 1977
In the studio in Santa Monica, California in 1980, Bob Dylan is captured whilst leaning on his guitar case.
Lou Reed was one of music's most influential icons. His music defied all definitions of genre & left a legacy that has inspired generations
The Stranglers are one of the most enduring bands to have come out of the punk scene with an uncompromising attitude and idiosyncratic style
The Ramones' loud, fast, straightforward musical style was influenced by music that the band members grew up listening to in the 50s & 60s.
Critics have called The Smiths the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s.
Jill Furmanovsky is one of the greatest ever rock & roll photographers with a huge archive of iconic shots of the world's best music artists
For eight years photographer Brian Duffy worked with David Bowie and shot his most iconic and enduring images. View his fantastic collection
The USA has given us many of the world's greatest music artists - we celebrate the best of the best
Our contact sheet collection is a rare opportunity to look back at the hidden moments surrounding some of rocks most iconic images.
