Lithography
Also called: Lithographic press · Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World"
Meaning
Lithography is a way of printing from a flat stone or metal plate. It works because oil and water do not mix. Ink sticks only to the greasy drawn parts, and the wet parts stay clean. It was invented in 1796. In India, lithographic presses were cheap and could copy handwritten scripts such as Urdu and Persian easily, so they spread religious print widely.
Example
In nineteenth-century north India, the ulama (Muslim religious scholars) used cheap lithographic presses to print Persian and Urdu translations of scripture and religious tracts. By the middle of the century, cheap lithographic editions of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas had also flooded north India.
Don't confuse with
- Woodblock printing: an older Chinese method where text is carved in relief on wood. Lithography prints from a flat, uncarved surface.
- Offset press: a later printing machine that could print six colours. It grew out of lithography but is not the same thing.