Term used to embrace three distinct but related concepts. First, it denotes the multiplication of documents or similar items consisting of words, pictures or other signs by means of some controlling surface, image or set of codes; the assumption is that all the resulting copies of such documents are identical to one another, although there may sometimes be appreciable differences between them. Secondly, it means the transfer of ink or some other substance by the impressing of one surface against another; such an action may lead to the above but does not necessarily lead to multiplication. Thirdly, an essential stage in some, but by no means all, printing is the assembly of prefabricated or otherwise predetermined characters (letters, numerals, and other signs) that relate to a particular written language or set of languages. Many printed items involve multiplication, impression and the assembly of prefabricated characters, but none of the three is essential to printing.

• printing
  • Ink, §II, 1(ii): Uses in East Asia: Printing
  • Japan, §VI, 5(iv)(a): Modern painting: Yoga in the Meiji period
  • historical and regional traditions
    • Ancient Near East
      • Ancient Near East, §II, 1: Seals
    • Australia
      • Australia, §X, 3: Textiles, after 1960
    • Buddhism
      • Buddhism, §III, 8(v): China: Song period
      • Tibet, §V, 9: Prints
    • Bulgaria
      • Bulgaria, §III, 3: Painting and graphic arts, 1394–1878
    • Central Asia, Eastern
      • Central Asia, §II, 5(xi): Eastern: Paper
    • Central Asia, Western
      • Central Asia, §I, 6(i)(b): Western: Cotton textiles
      • Islamic art, §VI, 2(iii)(d): Fabrics, c 1500 and after: Western Central Asia
    • China
      • China, §XIII, 3(ii): Printed books
      • China, §XIII, 19: Prints
      • China, §XIV, 4: Popular and national minorities’ art: Dress, jewellery and textiles
    • Czech Republic
      • Cotton, §2: Printed cottons
    • Egypt
      • Islamic art, §III, 8(iii): Printing in the Islamic lands
    • England
      • England, §VII, 3(i): Ceramics, 1701–1830: Earthenware and stoneware
      • England, §XI, 4: Printed cotton
      • Paper, decorative
      • Textile, §III, 1(ii)(f): Patterns: Printed
      • 15th cent.
        • Caxton, William
    • France
      • Blanquart-Evrard, Louis-Désiré
      • France, §XI, 4: Printed cotton
      • MacCarthy-Reagh, Justin
      • Oberkampf, Christophe-Philippe
    • Germany
      • Colophon, §3: Western printed
      • Gutenberg, Johann
    • Indian subcontinent
      • Indian subcontinent, §VII, 3(ii): Textiles: Printing
      • Indian subcontinent, §VIII, 2: Books and prints
    • Ireland
      • Ireland, §XI: Textiles
    • Islamic
      • Islamic art, §III, 8: Arts of the book: Printing
      • Islamic art, §III, 8(ii): Arabic printing in Europe
    • Italy
      • Humanism, §1: 15th-century Italy
      • Venice, §III, 1: Centre of production: Manuscripts, books and prints
    • Japan
      • Colophon, §2: Japan
      • Japan, §VII, 2(i)(a): Calligraphy: Buddhist scriptures, before AD 794
      • Japan, §VII, 2(i)(c): Calligraphy: Buddhist scriptures, Kamakura period and after
      • Japan, §IX, 3(i)(a): Prints, Edo period and after: Process and tools
    • Korea
      • Ink, §I, 2(i): Printing in Asia
    • Netherlands, the
      • Delft, §2: Art life and organization
      • Netherlands, the, §XI, 3: Woven and printed textiles
    • Russia
      • Russia, §XI: Textiles
    • Scotland
      • Scotland, §XI, 3: Other textiles
    • Tibet
      • Tibet, §V, 11: Wood-carving
    • United States of America
      • USA, §XI, 1: Woven and printed fabrics
  • materials
    • cameras (ii) (photography)
      • Poster, §II, 4: From 1965
    • ferric chloride
      • Photography, §I, 2: Processes and materials: Glossary
    • gelatin
      • Ceramics, §I, 4(ii): Decoration in colour
      • Collotype
      • Collotype, §1: Materials and techniques
      • Photography, §I, 2: Processes and materials: Glossary
    • glass
      • Collotype, §2: History
    • inks
      • Ink
      • Ink, §I: Types and properties
      • Ink, §I, 2: Printing
      • Ink, §I, 2(ii): Printing in the Western world
      • Ink, §II: Uses
      • Ink, §II, 2(ii): Uses in the Western world: Printing
      • Photography, §I, 2: Processes and materials: Glossary
      • Savage, William
    • lasers
      • Poster, §I: Materials and techniques
    • mica
      • Japan, §VII, 2(i)(b): Calligraphy: Buddhist scriptures, Heian period
    • paper
      • Manuscript, §I: Introduction
      • Paper, §V, 2: Uses: Printing
    • plaster
      • Engraving, §I: Materials and techniques
    • plastics
      • Book illustration, §V, 2: 20th century: Commercial and children’s books
    • presses
      • Popular prints, §1: Technology
    • type-faces
      • Buddhism, §III, 8(vii): China: Ming and Qing periods
      • Typography, §1: Invention and development
    • wood
      • Poster, §II, 1(iii): Before 1900: Developments outside France
  • processes
    • à la poupée
      • Aquatint, §1: Materials and techniques
      • poupée, à la
      • Prints, §III, 6(ii)(a): Colour printing, 15th–18th centuries
    • block see woodblock
    • chiaroscuro
      • Jackson, John Baptist
    • collograph
      • Moore, Henry, §1(ii): Life and work, 1940 and after
      • Prints, §III, 4(iii)(c): Photomechanical planographic processes: Collograph
    • collotype
      • Photography, §II, 6: Later 19th-century technical innovations
      • Poitevin, Alphonse Louis
      • Prints, §III, 4(iii)(b): Photomechanical planographic processes: Collotype
      • Reproduction of works of art, §2(iv): 20th century
    • colour
      • Book, §3: Decoration and illustration
      • Book illustration, §I, 1: Before the 1490s
      • Prints, §III, 6(ii): Colour printing
      • China
        • China, §XIII, 19(ii): Prints: Ming and after
      • England
        • Baxter, George
      • France
        • Gautier-Dagoty
        • Maurin, Charles
      • Japan
        • Japan, §IX, 2(i): Books, Edo period and after: Format and production
        • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(a): Prints, c 1600–c 1760
        • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(b): Prints, c 1760–c 1780
        • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(b): Prints, c 1760–c 1780
        • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(c): Prints, c 1780–c 1800
        • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(d): Prints and books: Edo period: prints and after: Historical development: c. 1800–c. 1820
        • Suzuki Harunobu
      • United States of America
        • Hoe, Robert
    • cross-line screen printing
      • Reproduction of works of art, §2(iii): 19th century
    • diazo
      • Photography, §I, 2: Processes and materials: Glossary
    • electrography
      • Electrography
    • flexographic printing
      • Wallpaper, §I, 2(ii): Machine-printed
      • Wallpaper, §II, 1(ii): Europe and North America, after c 1800
    • Goupilgravure
      • Prints, §III, 4(ii)(c): Photomechanical intaglio processes: Goupilgravure
    • half-tone block
      • Photography, §I, 1(v): Permanent prints
      • Photography, §II, 7: Social documentation
      • Prints, §III, 4(i)(d): Photomechanical relief processes: Half-tone blocks
    • heliography
      • Hiller, Karol
      • Niépce, Nicéphore
      • Prints, §III, 4(ii): Photomechanical intaglio processes
    • heliogravure see photogravure; PHOTOGRAPHY -> processes
    • Japan
      • Master printers, §I: Creation and replication
    • line block
      • Prints, §III, 4(i)(c): Photomechanical relief processes: Line block
    • lithography see LITHOGRAPHY
    • net
      • Japan, §IX, 3(i)(b): Prints, Edo period and after: Decorative techniques
    • offset
      • Lithography, §I: Materials and techniques
      • Lithography, §II, 2(ii)(c): Fine art developments, 20th century
      • Master printers, §VI: Master printers since c 1960
    • photogalvanography
      • Prints, §III, 4(ii)(b): Photomechanical intaglio processes: Photogalvanography
    • photographic
      • Master printers, §III: Specialization and collaboration
    • photogravure
      • Aquatint, §2(iii): Subsequent use, c 1800 and after
      • Engraving, §II, 5(v): Decline of reproductive engraving, c 1750–c 1900
      • Etching, §II, 5: 20th century
      • Photography, §II, 8: The re-emergence of photography as art
      • Czech Republic
        • Klíc , Karel
        • Prints, §III, 4(ii)(d): Photomechanical intaglio processes: Photogravure
      • England
        • Shand Kydd Ltd
      • United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
        • Annan: (1) Thomas Annan
    • photolithography see PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
    • photomechanical
      • Prints, §I, 1(iv): Terminology: Photomechanical reproductions
      • Prints, §III, 4: Photomechanical processes
    • photomezzotint see Goupilgravure
    • phototype
      • Prints, §III, 4(i)(a): Photomechanical relief processes: Phototype
    • planographic
      • Planographic
    • process reproduction
      • Book illustration, §IV, 1: 19th century: Great Britain
      • Book illustration, §IV, 2: 19th century: France, the USA and elsewhere
    • registration
      • Registration
    • transfer
      • Blue-and-white ceramic, §3(v): England
    • woodblock
      • Islamic art, §III, 8(i): Block-printing
      • Reproduction of works of art, §2(ii): 18th century
      • Wallpaper, §I, 2(i)(a): Woodblock printed
      • Wallpaper, §II, 1(i): Europe and North America, before c 1800
      • Bhutan
        • Bhutan, §IV: Painting
      • Buddhism
        • Buddhism, §III, 9(ii): Korea, AD 668 and after
        • Korea, §VIII, 2(ii): Woodblock printing
      • Central Asia, Eastern
        • Central Asia, §II, 5(iii): Eastern: Calligraphy
      • China
        • China, §XIII, 3: Books
        • China, §XIII, 18(i): Paper: Introduction
        • Prints, §I, 3(i): Design bearers
      • England
        • Morris, William, §3: Morris & Co.
      • Iran
        • Islamic art, §VI, 2(iii)(c): Fabrics, c 1500 and after: Iran
      • Iraq
        • Islamic art, §VI, 2(i)(b): Fabrics, before c 1250: Iraq and the eastern Islamic lands
      • Japan
        • Japan, §VI, 4(vi)(c): Late foreign-influenced painting: Nagasaki school
        • Jocho
      • Korea
        • Korea, §IV, 2(ii)(b): Landscape painting: Koryo, AD 918–1392
      • Tibet
        • Tibet, §I, 6(i): Religious iconography and subject-matter
    • Woodburytype
      • Photography, §I, 2: Processes and materials: Glossary
      • Photography, §II, 1: Early trends
      • Photography, §II, 2: Portraiture
      • Prints, §III, 4(i)(b): Photomechanical relief processes: Woodburytype
    • xerography see electrography
  • states see under PRINTS
  • uses
    • art (reproduction of works of)
      • Photography, §I, 2: Processes and materials: Glossary
    • banknotes
      • Banknote, §1(i): To 1900
    • Bibles
      • Bible, §I, 2: Christian printed
      • Bible, §II, 2: Hebrew printed
    • books
      • Book, §1: Origins
      • Book, §2: Production
    • carpets
      • Carpet, §I, 7: Warp-printed
    • catalogues
      • Display of art, §II, 2: Paintings, c 1500–c 1700
    • ceramics
      • England, §VII, 4: Ceramics, 1831–1900
    • cotton
      • China, §XII, 2(iii): Textiles: Yuan and after
    • maps
      • Map, §4: Printed maps and atlases
    • musical notation