A seed of consequence : indirect image transfer and chemcial printing : the role played by lithography in the development of printing technology

The history of printing is dominated by studies of mechanical typography. In this thesis the role of lithography in modernising printing is presented as an alternative path. The conventional explanation of how different printing processes work is generally made by dividing them into relief, intaglio and planographic processes. This explanation is of questionable value now, in a world where digital pre-press and offset printing hold sway. It is an outmoded idea to think that different ways of delivering ink under pressure is at the core of printing. Instead, it is more useful to focus our attention on the role played by direct and indirect image transfer. The similarities between the uses made by Gutenberg and Senefelder of direct and indirect image transfer has a greater importance than has the simplified division of printing processes into classes based upon depth of impression which is, essentially, a mechanical idea grounded in the typographic tradition. The idea presented here is that Gutenberg's application of indirect image transfer in his invention of moveable type provoked changes of greater importance than did the alternative invention of printing illustrations directly from metal plates or wooden blocks. Similarly, direct lithography was transformed by Senefelder into a vehicle for indirect image transfer by the invention of lithographic transfer paper. This invention had important ramifications for the future of lithography and for the preservation of photographic images. The combination of chemical printing and indirect image transfer made the capture of photographic images possible for the first time. In the nineteenth century, lithography also provided the first means by which photographs could be reproduced with printing ink in books - typography following here rather than leading the way. These issues have not been clearly recognised by many. The widely acknowledged superiority of typography to print economically, sharply, and at speed, was not surpassed by lithographers (who tended to concentrate on technical illustration and decorative printing) for many years. It was not until indirect image transfer was applied to the lithographic press that this barrier to progress was overcome, and, at last, text and image were efficiently transferred photographically to the rotary offset press