[ad. mod.L. lithographia or F. (and Ger.) lithographie: see LITHO- and -GRAPHY.]
† 1. A description of stones or rocks. Obs.
1708. Phil. Trans., XXVI. 161. Having some Years since Publish’d his Specimen Lithographiæ Helveticæ, and perhaps designing a Lithography, his Observations on Figur’d Fossils are not so numerous as we should otherwise have wish’d.
† 2. The art of engraving on precious stones.
1730. Bailey (folio), Lithography, the Art of cutting or engraving in Stone; also a Description of Stones.
3. The art or process of making a drawing, design, or writing on a special kind of stone (called ‘lithographic stone’), so that impressions in ink can be taken from it.
Lithography was invented in 1796 by Alois Senefelder of Munich (1771–1833). The term (in Ger. form lithographie) was used c. 1804–5 by Senefelder’s associates at Munich.
1813. H. Bankes, Lithography, 8. Mr. P. H. André introduced the art under the title of Polyautography…. I have taken the liberty, however, to change this for Lithography.
1819. trans. Senefelder (title), A Complete Course of Lithography.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., xi. (ed. 3), 78. A few years ago one of the Paris newspapers was reprinted at Brussels as soon as it arrived by means of lithography.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Ven., I. Pref. 10. Executed in tinted lithography.
1879. Print. Trades Jrnl., XXVI. 17. The process of lithography consists essentially in the application of a greasy ink on to a damp stone.
