You indicated you want to purchase lifetime impressions.
Suggest you contact Jan Slavin Lewis of Lewis & Daughter
I have no financial ties to this second generation dealer in Old Master prints. I do know that Jan is ethical and extremely practiced at selling Rembrandt lifetime impressions. She is a member of the IFPDA (International Fine Print Dealers Association).
You are correct in your preference in assembling lifetime impressions.
When next in the area of Boston, make an appointment to visit Harvard’s Fogg Museum. Ask to see both a lifetime impression and the same print in a 19th century impression and you will be shocked at the difference in their appearances. My mother was a golfer who appreciated art, but when she was faced with this exercise, she gasped “Why would anyone want a 19th century impression?”
To judge Rembrandt’s prints you need the right books and familiarity with different papers and watermarks and the patience to look long and hard at the line quality, tonal qualities, etc. to recognize a good impression from a lesser one.
Original prints by Rembrandt, lifetime impressions especially are very special indeed!
Corinne Cain (www.SavvyCollector.com)