What is Lithograph Printing?
Lithograph printing is an example of a process that proves frugality is the mother of many inventions. Alois Senefelder of Bavaria had tried his luck at acting without success, but found that his skills as a playwright were faring far better. The cost of printing his plays proved the only obstacle to financial solvency. He determined to learn the process of engraving his own copper plates to reduce his costs. Copper was expensive so he started practicing writing backwards on limestone. He had a mixture of lamp black, liquid wax, soap and rainwater that he used to repair his mistakes on the copper. Whether some of this mixture accidentally spilled on the limestone or Senefelder was practicing with the inky mixture, history doesn’t say. But sometime in 1796 it appears that he discovered that if he wet the stone, ink would adhere anywhere the water was repelled by his waxy ink. He could then press the limestone block against a piece of paper and the image was perfectly reproduced. Senefel
