Collection

The book, also translated as The Complete Book of Lithography, is the third publication by Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, and the first work on the technology. The first half of the book is divided into three parts describing the history of lithography over a period of about twenty years from 1796, when he began to study the art of printing, to the year before the book was published. The second half of the book summarizes the technology, including materials such as limestone and ink which were used as plate materials, and methods of plate-making, printing and transfer printing. In addition, the book is divided into separate volumes for reproduction samples of letterpress printing and copperplate prints by lithography. This book that was compiled by the inventor of lithographic printing, including its history, and has content which makes it suitable to call a “complete book”. In the year following the publication of this book (German version), English and French editions quickly followed.