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Letterpress

Letterpress is the oldest printing technology invented by Gutenberg in 1440. His invention is based on three things: cast print types, a hand-casting instrument to make these types, and a printing press designed for this purpose, which was adapted from the wine presses of the time. For many centuries the platen design of this hand press remained the only design for printing presses and basically only underwent various refinements with the change from the printing principle of the threaded spindle to the toggle lever principle, and of the structural material from wood to metal.

Intaglio

Intaglio engraving, as a method of making prints, was invented in Germany by the 1430s, after the woodcut print. Engraving had been used by goldsmiths to decorate metalwork, including armour, musical instruments and religious objects since ancient times, and the niello technique, which involved rubbing an alloy into the lines to give a contrasting color, also goes back to late antiquity. It has been suggested that goldsmiths began to print impressions of their work to record the design, and that printmaking developed from that.

The golden age of artists engraving was 1450-1550, after which the technique lost ground to etching as a medium for artists, although engravings continued to be produced in huge numbers until after the invention of photography. Today intaglio engraving is largely used for currency, banknotes, passports and occasionally for high-value postage stamps. The appearance of engraving is sometimes mimicked for items such as wedding invitations by producing an embossment around lettering printed by another process (such as lithography or offset) to suggest the edges of an engraving plate.

Lithography

Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder - Czech - in Bohemia in 1796. In the early days of lithography, a smooth piece of limestone was used (hence the name "lithography"—"lithos" (λιθος) is the ancient Greek word for stone). After the oil-based image was put on the surface gum arabic, a water soluble solution, was then applied, sticking only to the non-oily surface and sealing it. During printing, water adhered to the gum arabic surfaces and avoided the oily parts, while the oily ink used for printing did the opposite.

Chromolithography was the first method for making true multi-color prints. Earlier attempts at polychromed printing relied on hand-coloring. The type of color printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and it includes all types of lithography that are printed in color. It replaced coloring prints by hand, and eventually served as a replica of a real painting. Lithographers sought to find a way to print on flat surfaces with the use of chemicals instead of relief or intaglio printing. Depending on the amount of colors present, a chromolithograph could take months to produce. To make what was once referred to as a “’chromo’”, a lithographer, with a finished painting in front of him, gradually built and corrected the print to look as much as possible like the painting in front of him, sometimes using dozens of layers. The process can be very time consuming and cumbersome contingent upon the skill of the lithographer.

Offset press was invented in 1870s. Offset printing is the major lithographic technology. It is an indirect lithographic technology, in which the ink is first transferred from the printing plate onto a flexible intermediate carrier – the blanket – and then onto the substrate. Offset printing has spread markedly since approximately 1970 and has, to a great extent, ousted the letterpress printing technology which prevailed until that time. The offset printing technology is now the major printing technology.