Posted By:
Keith O'LearyBrian,
No...proofs aren't normally reversed.
All proofs are are pre production test runs through the press in order to give the pressman a chance to aline registration and adjust the flow of ink to the printing plate for proper color.
Maybe the image was reversed during scanning?
I rethought this and will add about proof definition (and there will prolley be many opinions here). I guess you could conceivably call the pre press experimentation by the art department (if art departments existed in pressrooms back then, LOL, but you know what I'm getting at here) and anything that they produced and still exists "proofs". Maybe they were toying around the idea of playing with different poses, different colors, different whatever before final decisions were made by the head honchos. It would be no surprise if copies of these "proofs" were produced to be shown to those head honchos for approval.
Keith