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Essay on The The History of Lithography
The term "Lithography" comes from a Greek word lithos which means, stone; graphein or to write. The procedure of printing developed in 1798 by the German map inspector Aloys Senefelder.
Lithography involves a flat, lightweight, planographic surface on which the printing area is no higher than the nonprinting area; it depends for its action on the mutual repulsion of grease and water. Senefelder found that if a drawing were made on a flat piece of limestone with a greasy crayon, the lines would attract and hold an oily or greasy ink when the stone was wet, whereas other portions of the stone would take no ink. The drawing could then be reproduced on a piece of suitable paper rolled into contact with the stone.
In the 19th century lithography became the chief means of reproducing works of art and illustrating books and magazines; the French artist Honoré Daumier is particularly known for his many lithographs that gently deride the social foibles of his day. (Dorsch, Jeff (1998)
Lithography was the primary vitally new printing technology ever since the innovation of relief printing in the fifteenth century.
It is a mechanical planographic process in which the printing and non-printing areas of the plate are all at the same level, as opposed to intaglio and relief processes in which the design is cut into the printing block.
Lithography is based on the chemical repellence of oil and water. Designs are drawn or painted with greasy ink or crayons on specially prepared limestone. The stone is moistened with water, which the stone accepts in areas not covered by the crayon. An oily ink, applied with a roller, adheres only to the drawing and is repelled by the wet parts of the stone. Pressing paper against the inked drawing then makes the print....
