Editioned Artworks

If you work in a medium such as photography, sculpture, or prints, you probably produce editioned sets as well as unique pieces. Valise lets you track each edition of a work separately, with its own location, status, and other details.

Setting up editions

Set up editions as you add an artwork with Editions under Details, or later with Add editions in the Editions section of the artwork’s page. Enter the edition size, plus any artist’s proofs (APs), printer’s proofs (PPs), and exhibition copies (ECs).

If most of your works come in the same edition, set it in your new artwork defaults and it’s filled in for you.

Once you’ve set up editions, the Location and Status fields move from the artwork to the individual editions, since each copy can have its own location and status.

Edition types

Each artwork has one run of numbered editions, plus optional proofs and copies alongside it:

• Numbered editions (1/5, 2/5, and so on) are the editions you sell. They start out Available.
• Artist’s proofs (AP), printer’s proofs (PP), and exhibition copies (EC) start out Not for Sale. Editions with this status can’t be added to a sale, and are flagged when added to a consignment. To sell one, change its status first.

Fields

Each edition has its own set of fields, separate from the artwork:

• Year: the year this edition was made. Inherits from the artwork’s year by default, but can be overridden if editions were produced at different times.
• Medium: the medium of this edition. Inherits from the artwork’s medium by default.
• Dimensions: the dimensions of this edition. Inherits from the artwork’s dimensions by default, useful when different editions are printed at different sizes.
• Status: whether this edition is available, consigned, sold, or another status.
• Location: where this edition is currently stored or displayed.
• Tags: labels for grouping and filtering this edition.
• Notes: free-form notes specific to this edition.

Numbering editions

The Editions section on an artwork’s page has a row for every number in the run. A number with no edition is open, which happens when you delete an edition or make the group larger. The section header shows how many numbers are open. To add an edition for an open number, press + on its row.

To renumber an edition, drag its row onto another number. Drop it on an open number to move it there, or on another edition’s number to swap the two.

You can also change an edition’s number from its page. Click the Edition No. field and choose an open number, or another edition’s number to swap with.

Unassigned editions

An unassigned edition is one without a number, like a print you’ll number when it sells, or one found in an archive after the run was set up. Unassigned editions are listed under Unassigned, below the numbered editions.

An edition becomes unassigned when you:

• Drag it to the Unassigned area, which appears while you drag a numbered edition
• Choose Unassign from 3/5 in its Edition No. field
• Resize the edition group so its number is no longer in the run
• Import a spreadsheet with a blank or Unassigned edition

To number them, drag an unassigned edition onto an open number. To number several at once, select them and choose Assign numbers. They fill the open numbers in order, starting with regular numbers, then APs, PPs, and ECs.

Unassigned editions can be sold, consigned, and searched. In sale and consignment pickers, each one shows its location and notes.

Resizing an edition group

To change the edition size or the number of proofs, open the … menu in the Editions section and choose Resize edition group….

Making a group larger adds open numbers. Making it smaller moves the editions above the new size to Unassigned.

Managing editions

Since editions are often large sets, Valise lets you edit multiple at once. On the artwork page, select editions using the checkbox on the left side of each row. You can also Shift+Click to select a range. Read more about bulk actions. With editions selected, you can:

• Set the status of the selected editions
• Set the location of the selected editions
• Set the year, medium, or dimensions of the selected editions
• Assign numbers to unassigned editions
• Add to a new consignment
• Add to a new sale
• Delete the selected editions

Each row shows the edition’s location, sale date, and status. Click the location or status to change it, or use the row’s … menu for the same actions on a single edition.

To edit any field individually, click on the edition number (e.g. 1/5) to open the edition detail page. From there you can edit all fields, view consignment history, and manage documents like condition reports.

Deleting editions

To delete an edition, choose Delete… from its row’s … menu, or from the … menu on its page. An artwork always keeps at least one edition.

If a deleted edition was sold, its sale keeps the price and shows a deleted artwork in its place. To keep a record of an edition that was lost or destroyed, set its status to No Longer Exists instead of deleting it.

To make an editioned artwork a unique work again, open the … menu in the Editions section and choose Convert to unique work…. Choose the edition to keep, and the others are deleted.

Other features

Editions integrate with the rest of Valise. Some features apply to the artwork as a whole, some to each edition, and a few to both.

Feature	Artwork	Edition
Collections	✓
Consignments		✓
Presentations	✓
Press	✓
Sales		✓
Tags	✓	✓

Presentations and press show in their own sections on the artwork’s page, not on each edition. If one particular copy was exhibited or written about, record that in the edition’s Notes.