Nouvelles de l’estampe is the only french-speaking academic journal on printed images and printmaking, publishing the best illustrated papers on prints and printmaking from the origins to nowadays (research papers, historical documents, reviews…). Contemporary art is also an important part of the content, through presentation and interviews.

Nouvelles de l'estampe was founded in 1963 by Jean Adhémar. Being both director of the Bibliothèque Nationale Prints and Drawings Department (Cabinet des estampes) and editor-in-chief of Gazette des beaux-arts, Adhémar was at the centre of the booming world of printmaking and could easily get information of interest to a wide audience. He therefore decided to found a monthly mimeographed information paper within the National Library. However, since this institution could not officially publish Nouvelles de l'estampe, Adhémar entrusted the task to the Comité national de la gravure française, of which he was an influential member.

He explained “My situation was [...] paradoxical: through the Gazette and through my contacts, I found myself in possession of all the possible information, and those concerning my profession, my greatest interest, were of no use to me. That's when I came up with the idea of the Nouvelles [de l’estampe], a kind of liaison newsletter. I therefore decided to publish it under the aegis of the National Engraving Committee [Comité national de la gravure française], where I found significant moral support but no financial support. So I came out of my own authority and with a few prodigies of ingenuity a magazine sent free of charge, twelve issues a year.”

Just as the Prints and Drawings Department works on printmaking without any distinction of period or use, the journal seeks to highlight any information on prints from its origins to the present day, combining historical research and contemporary creation. It must also be a meeting place for the different worlds that revolve around engraving: curators and academics, of course, but also artists, publishers, merchants, experts, printers, etc.

In 1972, Michel Melot, a young curator of the Cabinet des Estampes, succeeded Adhémar as editor-in-chief of Nouvelles de l'estampe. He transformed the information sheet into a real journal, which publishes studies and articles on printmaking and engraving from the origins to the present day, while continuing its role as a news report. It is then bimonthly. The journal therefore remains - until today! - closely linked to the National Library, which provides premises and an editor-in-chief, while nominally dependent on an independent learned society.

After Michel Melot came Marcelle Elgrishi-Gautrot (1981-1988), Marianne Grivel (now professor at Sorbonne Université, 1988-1991), Gérard Sourd (1991-2010), who introduced thematic issues and an editorial board. Over the years, the journal has published various prints on contemporary creation, notably by Pierre Alechinsky, Jean-Luc Parant (2006), Jean-Michel Alberola (2009), François Houtin (2013), etc.

In 2010, Rémi Mathis, curator of the 17th century collections in the Prints Department of the BnF, became editor-in-chief. The journal, now in full color, becomes quarterly: its scientific character is affirmed and a work of visibility and enhancement of the texts is initiated. Several events are organized (colloquium for the 50th anniversary of the magazine in 2013, special issue 250, auction of the print collections of the National Committee of French Engraving, participation in the Nuit Blanche of the City of Paris...).

The Comité national de la gravure française is renamed Comité national de l'estampe in 2012, Rémi Mathis founds editions of books, directly linked to the magazine: a collection ("tirés à part") includes articles already published in the Nouvelles, highlighted in an individual way, and another ("après la lettre") of old texts on printmaking, presented and contextualized by specialists.

In January 2022, Chloé Perrot succeeded Rémi Mathis when Mathis joined the Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes as assistant director. A new chapter is thus opening for the journal.

Nouvelles de l'estampe is published with the support of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The journal is, among others, taken into account by the Bibliography of the history of art (Getty Research Institute) and the Bibliographie de l'histoire de France (CNRS).

The journal is also OpenAccess Green, meaning that authors can freely distribute their texts in the publisher's version - without any restriction.