The copy can become someone’s first and most important encounter with the work.

Most people meet great work through reproductions, and the copy is what forms the attachment. A poster, a recording, a translation, and by the time anyone stands in front of the original, the relationship already exists and was built elsewhere. The copy is not a lesser encounter but usually the actual one.

So be less precious about access. If the real thing is far away, expensive, or gone, the version you can reach is not a consolation prize. And when you introduce someone to something you love, do not apologise for the format. What matters is that the thing arrives at all, and it usually arrives in translation.