WikiDef of Letterpress

Letterpress printing is a term for printing text with movable type, in which the raised surface of the type is inked and then pressed against a smooth substance to obtain an image in reverse. In addition to the direct impression of inked movable type onto paper or another receptive surface, the term letterpress can also refer to the direct impression of inked media such as zinc "cuts" (plates) onto a receptive surface.

Early Chinese woodblock printing used characters or images carved in relief from before 750AD, and this form of printing was widespread throughout Eurasia as a means of printing patterns on textiles. Printing of images, first on cloth, then from about 1400 on paper was practised in Europe. In the 1400s, Johann Gutenberg (among others) is credited with the invention of movable type printing from individually-cast, reusable letters set together in a forme (frame). This had previously been invented in Asia, but the two inventions were probably not connected. He also invented a wooden printing-press where the type surface was inked and paper laid carefully on top by hand, then slid under a padded surface and pressure applied from above by a huge threaded screw. Later metal presses used a knuckle and lever arrangement instead of the screw, but the principle was the same.Read More...