"The purpose of this book is the identification of artists' signatures: some 4,500 American artists and, in addition, some 600 Canadian and Latin American artists. Necessary biographical information, such as nationality, birth and death dates, is given along with bibliographical references and auction records in the form of key letters which help direct the reader to further sources of information. With each artist, there is presented at least one signature facsimile; in many cases, multiple signatures totalling nearly 10,000 examples taken from oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints covering as broad a range as possible in painting styles and periods from 1800 through 1989. For the easy identification of an artist who signs his or her work with a pseudonym, monogram, symbol or indecipherable signature, there are three separate sections in the back of the book."--Introduction.