HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN THIS FIELD?
I started collecting in 1968 when I was writing my doctoral dissertation in philosophy at Oxford. I had a Canada Council Fellowship, which gave me more money than I had ever had, so I decided to start collecting, and prints were only things I could afford. But I liked the fact that they were complex, unpretentious and democratic. When I finished my doctorate, I decided to set up as a private dealer before going into an academic career, but liked it so much I stuck with it.

My first purchases were pretty bad—a late Callot, a Dürer with the monogram cut off, a posthumous Rembrandt. It was uphill from then on.

When I went to Paris for the first time (I grew up in Western Canada), I discovered a cache of Picassos in a print shop that I was sure were too inexpensive. I mortgaged my next year’s fellowship to buy them and promptly sold most of them to dealers in London. That put the thrill of the chase in me, the treasure-hunt aspect that used to be more a part of print dealing than it is now. Then, you didn’t need much money, just a good nose, a good eye and good sturdy shoes.