Oil-based printing ink
Tinta de aceite para imprenta
- Date
- c. 1450 · confidence medium
- Place
- Mainz, Germany
- Credited to
- Johannes Gutenberg
- People
- 👤 Johannes Gutenberg1400–1468
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
An ink of lampblack and boiled linseed oil (varnish) that adhered to metal type, unlike Chinese water-based ink. It solved the key problem of letterpress printing.
Gutenberg's ink contains copper and lead, a trait that has helped identify his printed works.
What it led to
- the sharp, durable printing of the incunabula
- an ink and varnish industry linked to Flemish oil painting
- the copperplate printing of maps and engravings
Built on
- Carbon-black ink stick (India ink)c. 250 BCE
- Oil painting (van Eyck)c. 1420
- oil painting (Van Eyck)
- Chinese ink (lampblack)