Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour prints. This type of colour printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. When chromolithography is used to reproduce photographs, the term photochrome is frequently used. Lithography is a method of printing on flat surfaces using a flat printing plate instead of raised relief or recessed intaglio techniques.
"Love or Duty", a chromolithograph by Gabriele Castagnola, 1873. The nineteen colours of ink used can be seen on the right hand side.
Uncle Sam Supplying the World with Berry Brothers Hard Oil Finish, c. 1880. This cheaply produced chromolithographic advertisement employs a technique called stippling, with heavy reliance on the initial black line print.
1872 chromolithograph of roadside inn, published in Maryland
Folding Card, The Old Woman Who Lived in A Shoe, 6 April 1883.
Lithography is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German author and actor Alois Senefelder and was initially used mostly for musical scores and maps. Lithography can be used to print text or images onto paper or other suitable material. A lithograph is something printed by lithography, but this term is only used for fine art prints and some other, mostly older, types of printed matter, not for those made by modern commercial lithography.
A lithograph of Charles Marion Russell's The Custer Fight (1903), with the range of tones fading toward the edges
This very early colour lithograph from 1835 uses large washes of orange and cyan with black ink providing the details.
A lithographer at work, 1880
Lithography machine in Bibliotheca Alexandrina
