Since assuming responsibility for the Hollstein enterprise in 1995, Sound & Vision has been instrumental in the blossoming of the Hollstein project, while launching a new series Studies in Prints and Printmaking. Enthusiasm, organisational skills and stamina have been key factors for their success to date, coupled with the support of a loyal team of compilers and editors. The company is firmly convinced that the collecting, assimilation and distribution of information on prints will change dramatically as a consequence of new techniques based on Information Communication Technology (ICT). Technological tools and instruments for the structured collection of data on prints are being developed. Direct digitising of prints is perceived as the best way to achieve standardisation in the quality of visual information, thereby improving the basis for assessment and comparison. Sound & Vision facilitates projects on prints and printmaking in partnership with institutions.

Hollstein is a household word to all students of the great Northern European schools of printmaking. It is a universally known standard reference work with a status enjoyed by few other scholarly publications. The name is derived from Friedrich Wilhelm Hollstein (1888-1957), a leading dealer in prints and drawings in Berlin before the Second World War. Circumstances forced Hollstein to leave Germany in 1937, at which time he took refuge in Holland and moved to Amsterdam. Like many serious dealers, he assiduously documented the objects in which he was interested. The publisher Menno Hertzberger eventually issued the first volumes based on Hollstein‘s research: dating from 1949 is F.W.H. Hollstein‘s Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450-1700, and from 1954 the parallel series German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts ca. 1400-1700. To date, the number of published volumes in these two series total more than one hundred.

The name Hollstein is derived from Friedrich Wilhelm Hollstein (1888-1957), a leading dealer in prints and drawings in Berlin before the Second World War. Like many serious dealers, he assiduously documented the objects in which he was interested. Those who knew his material were convinced that Hollstein's files were complete enough to be the starting point for a reference book and urged him to produce one. However, any thought of undertaking a major project of that kind was frustrated by the Depression. Circumstances forced Hollstein to leave Germany in 1937, at which time he took refuge in Holland and moved to Amsterdam.

Sound & Vision Publishers has developed a specialized database (PrintDB 2000) for describing every aspect of a print. This rather complex, but easy to use tool, is used by most of our art historians while performing their research.