Lithography

A term describing the most common form of lithography (a printing process in which the image area and the non-image area co-exist on the same plane, rather than from raised or etched type, as in letterpress and gravure printing, respectively; see Lithography) in which a printed image is transferred first to a rubber blanket, and the blanket then transfers (or "offsets") the image to the paper or other surface. Other forms of lithography include ["direct lithography (or di-litho) and waterless lithography. The two basic varieties of offset lithography are sheetfed and web offset lithography. The remainder of this article will deal primarily with sheetfed offset printing.  

EVOLUTION OF OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY
 The offset press as we know it today was invented around 1905 by Ira Rubel, a papermill owner in Nutley, New Jersey, who also used the contemporary lithographic