In printing, tirage (French for “pulling”) is the number of sheets that can be pulled from a mother sheet during one printing process. The term can also refer to the quantity of printed sheets that are produced from a given number of mother sheets.
The tirage, or edition size, of a print refers to the number of prints that will be made from a given plate or negative. The purpose of limiting the tirage is to maintain the value of the print by ensuring that each one is a unique work of art. Once the tirage is complete, the plate or negative is destroyed, making it impossible to produce any more prints. This makes each print in the edition a valuable collectors item.
The tirage of a printing press is determined by its bed size; that is, the size of the paper that can be fed into the press in a single sheet. The most common bed size for modern presses is 50 x 70 cm (20 x 28 inches). This results in a tirage of 500 sheets per run.
The term is also used in offset lithography to describe the number of sheets that can be pulled from a given number of mother sheets. For example, if an offset lithography press has a bed size of 50 x 70 cm and can print 500 sheets per run, then its tirage is 500 sheets.
In both cases, the term can also refer to the quantity of printed sheets that are produced from a given number of mother sheets. For example, if an offset lithography press has a bed size of 50 x 70 cm and can print 500 sheets per run, then its tirage is 500 sheets.
Tirage is an important part of the printing process because it allows for the accurate registration of colors and ensures that the printed image is not smeared or damaged. By using tirage, printers can produce high-quality prints that are consistent with the original image.