Lithography

Lithography is a planographic printing method based on the mutual repulsion of oil and water, in which an image is drawn onto a flat surface, typically a stone, with a greasy medium and then transferred using ink that adheres to the greasy areas and is repelled by dampened blank areas. The German author and actor Alois Senefelder invented the technique in 1796 in the Electorate of Bavaria, and it was initially used mostly for musical scores and maps. The process later became fundamental to commercial printing, especially through the offset lithography developments of the 20th century that made it central to producing books, magazines and newspapers.