1. Caroline Armington’s Etching Record Books

Much of the basic information regarding Caroline Armington’s prints is from the Caroline Armington’s Etching Record Books.

Caroline Armington had two Etching Record Books.

The first one covers the year 1908 to the year 1923. The second one covers the year 1924 to the year 1938.

The originals of the Caroline Armington’s Etching Record Books are in the collection of the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

 

  2. Titles of the Prints

The titles of the prints are those recorded by Caroline Armington in her Etching Record Books.

When the title shown on a print is slightly different from that shown in the Etching Record Books, it is shown in bracket beside the original title.

For some prints, Caroline Armington has changed the title and has recorded the changes in her Etching Record Books. For some other prints, the change of title was not recorded. For all these prints, one entry has been made for each of the titles (with a cross-reference).

For a few prints, prior to etching the title on the print, Caroline Armington has sometimes handwritten the title in English rather than in French as recorded in her Etching Record Books. For these prints, one entry has been made for each of the titles (with a cross-reference).

 

  3. Dates of the Prints

The dates of the prints are those recorded by Caroline Armington in her Etching Record Books. Unless otherwise noted these dates are those of the year when the plate was originally etched. In general the date of the print is confirmed by the date etched in the plate. For certain prints, there are some discrepancies between the dates recorded or shown.

 

  4. Catalogue Numbers

The print catalogue numbers are those assigned to her prints by Caroline Armington and as recorded in her Etching Record Books. Caroline Armington has numbered her prints from number 1 to number 551. They are shown in this catalogue under the format CA-xxx (from CA-001 to CA-551). In general, they reflect the chronological order of the prints.

In addition, four prints have been assigned the numbers 146a, 273a, 353 bis and 417 bis by Caroline Armington (CA-146a, CA-273a, CA-353 bis and CA-417 bis in this catalogue).

One print may have been assigned the number 7a (‘’Pont du Cheval, Bruges’’). Since this could not be firmly established, this print has been considered as not numbered and has been assigned a number (CA-007-3) as for the other unnumbered prints.

For some prints, and for an unknown reason, Caroline Armington has not assigned a number to her print despite the fact that we have found evidences that a fair number of them have been printed. For these, a number has been given for the purpose of this catalogue. They have been given a number which is made of the number of the print which precedes them in the Etching Record Books with the addition of a sequence number. For example, CA-010-1 is the first print not numbered after print CA-010 and before print CA-011. Similarly, print CA-010-4 is the fourth print not numbered after print CA-010 and before print CA-011.

For the prints with significant variation(s) in the title or a new title, recorded or not recorded in the Etching Record Books, one entry has been made for each of the titles. The original title was assigned the original print number and the new (or different or alternate) titles were assigned the same number with a ‘’-A’’ and a sequence number. For example, CA-010, CA-010-A1 and CA-010-A2.

Similarly, for the prints for which Caroline Armington has handwritten the print title in English rather than in French as recorded in her Etching Record Books, the original French title was assigned the original print number and the English title was assigned the same number with a ‘’-E’’.

For prints for which a new plate was etched with the same title and no new number had been given in the Etching Record Books, one entry has been made for each of the plates. The original plate was assigned the original print number and the new plate was assigned the same number with a ‘’-N’’. For example, CA-396 and CA-396-N.

In addition, the color prints have been identified with a ‘’-C’’ at the end of their number. For example, CA-012-1-C and CA-031-C.

The same thing was done for prints which were recorded as being printed in black and in color under the same number. The original title was assigned the original print number and the color print was assigned the same number with a ‘’-C’’.

For the two prints (CA-206 and CA-347) which were shown in the Etching Record Books as ‘’sold to the Société Française des Beaux-Arts’’, different types of edition have been found. The original editions (by Caroline Armington) were assigned with their original numbers CA-206 and CA-347; the subsequent editions (by Caroline Armington or by the Société Française des Beaux-Arts) were assigned the letters -a, -b and -c in lower case. For example CA-206-a and CA-206-b.

Prints which are not listed in Caroline Armington’s Etching Record Books have been given a H.C. (Hors Catalogue) serial number such as CA-H.C.-001.

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