High added-value print is an oft-discussed and much written about topic. Last weekend, for example, I saw an inkjet print with a price tag of £4,000.

OK, the print in question was a limited edition print of a Boo Ritson artwork, and it was on show at London's Royal Academy as part of the Original Print Fair. So not your everyday bit of print work, admittedly.

Elsewhere, there was a Damien Hirst spot print, produced on a Durst Lambda, at £11,000 and a wonderful 29-colour screenprint (my mind was boggling about the production complexities of that one) of Peter Davies' quirky The Fun One Hundred. At £420 I feel that was something of a bargain considering the work that must have been involved. Regrettably credit crunch caution prevented purchase. Other covetable, and pricier, screenprints included Bridget Riley artworks produced by Artizan Editions in Hove.

For anyone with an interest in different printing techniques it was like being let loose in a sweetshop. Etchings old and new, lithographs, diptychs, screenprints, and more. Some lovely Norman Ackroyd prints reminded me of the fascinating artists' rooms article on his print studio that appeared in The Guardian last year. I also discovered a trademarked 3D print process, called Mixografia, which was news to me and while not to my taste certainly gives a striking result.  

It was interesting to note how much of the work was inkjetted, the most notable example being a huge black-and-white print on hand-torn archival paper of Stephen Walter's The Island, on display courtesy of TAG Fine Arts.  It's "on tour" now, go see it if you can, it's amazing.

A new book shedding more light on this fascinating area of print is published this month. Printmakers' Secrets by Anthony Dyson features insights from members of London's Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. The sour note being that the book itself is printed in Singapore. Sigh.