Lithography

What it is

A planographic printing method based on the repulsion between water and grease on limestone, allowing drawings and text to be reproduced without engraving. It drastically cut the cost of printing images, maps and sheet music.

Senefelder was looking for a cheap way to print his plays; he published the complete treatise in 1818.

What it led to

• Posters, political caricature (Daumier) and mass illustration
• Chromolithography and colour advertising (1837)
• Cheap maps and sheet music
• Offset printing (1875-1904)

Built on

• Copperplate engravingc. 1430-1450
• Greasy ink
• Solnhofen stone

Made possible

• Photography (heliography)1826-1827
• Chromolithography1832-1837
• Zincography1850
• Halftone printing with a cross-line screen1881-1882
• Offset printing1904
• Advertising poster

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