Who Published L.S. Lowry’s Limited Edition Prints?

Look closely at a signed Lowry print and there is often another name waiting to be discovered. It might appear beneath the image, in the publication details or on a label attached to the back of the frame.

Names such as Adam Collection, Venture Prints and Grove Galleries are familiar to anyone who spends time with Lowry’s work. Each helped bring his pictures to a wider audience, giving people the opportunity to own a signed example of a scene they loved.

Their editions also reveal the breadth of Lowry’s interests. Alongside factories and crowded streets are sailing boats, family groups, solitary figures and buildings that have long since disappeared.

How Did The Publishers Fit In?

A publisher brought an edition to market, arranging its production and sale. Specialist printing firms carried out the printing itself. The two names could therefore be different, even when they appeared on the same sheet.

For editions reproducing paintings, publication allowed an image that existed as a single canvas to reach many more homes. Some publishers issued numerous Lowry titles; others were responsible for only a small part of his printed work. Their individual reasons for choosing particular pictures are not always recorded, but the editions themselves tell us something about the subjects they made available.

Adam Collection: The People As Well As The Places

Adam Collection Ltd. published a particularly varied selection of Lowry’s work. Its editions encompass busy settings such as Station Approach, alongside the more intimate subject of Man Holding Child.

Both feature in our stock records. Our example of Station Approach is numbered 262 from an edition of 850, while Man Holding Child is number 16 from an edition of 350. Together, they give a sense of how differently Lowry could approach his subjects: a place full of activity, or a relationship held within a small group of figures.

L.S. Lowry, Station Approach. Published by Adam Collection Ltd.

One of Adam Collection’s most engaging publications was Group of Children. It was originally issued with three unsigned reproductions of pencil sketches, commonly called the Nursery Sketches. That detail is easily lost when prints become separated over time, but it helps us picture how the original purchaser would have encountered the publication.

Another Adam Collection title has a particularly personal history. The original painting behind Mrs Swindell’s Picture was given to Mrs Swindell, Lowry’s cleaner for many years. The signed edition brought a picture associated with someone in his everyday life to a much wider audience. 

That movement between public scenes and private lives is part of the pleasure of exploring Adam Collection’s publications. Its catalogue offers several different ways into Lowry’s world.

Venture Prints: Taking Lowry Beyond The Industrial Streets

Venture Prints Ltd. published a range that challenges the idea that a Lowry picture must contain a mill chimney.

Its titles include Ferry Boats, Sailing Boats, The Beach, Peel Park, Salford and Landscape with Farm Buildings. These editions introduce water, open space and quieter settings into a collection, alongside the more familiar industrial subjects.

Our example of Ferry Boats, number 155 from an edition of 500, provides a useful glimpse of the trade behind the picture. Its description records both Venture Prints as publisher and Frost & Reed gallery labels on the reverse.

L.S. Lowry, Ferry Boats. Published by Venture Prints Ltd.

Examples such as Sailing Boats and Landscape with Farm Buildings also offer something different to someone who already owns a busy street scene. Following a publisher’s titles can lead you towards a side of an artist you had previously overlooked.

Grove Galleries: A Town And A Solitary Figure

Grove Galleries published Our Town and Man Lying on a Wall.

In our collection, Our Town is numbered 743 from an edition of 850, with Lowry’s signature and the edition number written in pencil in the margin.

L.S. Lowry, Our Town. Published by Grove Galleries.

Man Lying on a Wall offers a different point of connection. The title draws attention to one person and one unexpected moment. It is the kind of subject that can make someone pause, smile and begin to wonder about the figure’s story.

These publications show how much variety can exist within one publisher’s selection. A collector might be drawn to the sense of a whole community in one picture and the individuality of a single person in another.

Henry Donn: A Personal Connection To Lowry

Henry Donn’s involvement has a more clearly documented human story.

His gallery on Bury New Road in Whitefield developed into a publishing and wholesaling business serving customers across the UK and overseas. Donn was also a friend of Lowry and later served as an honorary consultant when The Lowry Centre opened. His association with the artist extended across dealing, publishing and sharing knowledge of the work.

His signed Lowry publications include Huddersfield and The Level Crossing. Magnus Prints, another name collectors may encounter, published Lonely House. These smaller groups of titles form part of the wider network through which Lowry’s images reached collectors.

Patrick Seale And Other Names In Our Stock History

Patrick Seale Prints Ltd. published Market Scene in a Northern Town in 1973 in collaboration with Salford Museum and Art Gallery. That recorded museum connection gives us a specific example of how a publication came about: a commercial publisher working with a public collection to make a painting available in print.

Our stock history includes Market Scene in a Northern Town, as well as Patrick Seale’s Level Crossing with Train.

L.S. Lowry, Market Scene in a Northern Town. Published by Patrick Seale Prints Ltd.

Other examples introduce less familiar names. Our An Industrial Town was published by Peinture of Luton and printed by J. Lin Ltd. The description records the two separate businesses involved in bringing that edition into being.

Penrose Fine Arts International published People Standing About, while St Luke’s Church was published by G. R. Mellor in 1973. These names help explain why two Lowry prints can have quite different publication details, even when they date from a similar period.

L.S. Lowry, People Standing About. Published by Penrose Fine Arts International.

School Prints And Ganymed: Two Different Ambitions

Some of the most interesting publishing stories concern what an edition was intended to achieve.

The School Prints project grew from Brenda and Derek Rawnsley’s ambition to give children access to contemporary art, with support from art critic Herbert Read. Lowry was among the artists commissioned for a scheme that brought original lithographic prints into classrooms. The purpose was educational: children could live with and look at contemporary pictures as part of their school day.

Lowry’s Punch and Judy belongs to that story. Later, The Sunday Observer also became a publisher of signed Lowry editions, including Punch and Judy and Mill Scene.

Ganymed Original Editions Ltd. took another approach. Its sixteen signed Lowry lithographs were made specifically for publication as prints, rather than reproducing existing paintings. Published in editions of 75, they explore his subjects through black marks against tinted backgrounds.

Where Medici And Mainstone Fit

The Medici Society and J. H. Mainstone Print Publications are also central names. Medici published titles including Going to the Match and Berwick-upon-Tweed, while Mainstone’s publications include The Pond, Britain at Play, The Fever Van and View of a Town.

L.S. Lowry, Britain at Play. Published by J. H. Mainstone.

Read our expert guide on selling Lowry prints for more information. Together with the publishers above, they show how galleries, specialist businesses, museums and educational projects all contributed to Lowry’s printed legacy.

For anyone who enjoys Lowry, following those connections adds another pleasure to collecting. A publisher’s name can lead towards a classroom project, a gallery relationship or a picture with a personal history.

Explore our L.S. Lowry collection to see the examples currently available. If a particular title catches your attention, please get in touch with us to discuss it or enquire about finding a similar print.