In the beginning, before the printing press, printmaking was not considered an art form, rather a medium of communication. It was not till the 18th century that art prints began to be considered originals and not till the 19th that artists began to produce limited editions and to sign their prints along with the technical information necessary to authenticate the work.

European printmaking began with textile printing as early as the sixth century, while printing on paper had to wait a bit longer for the arrival of paper technology from the Far East. The first paper produced in Europe was in Játiva in Spain in 1151. The first woodcuts printed on paper were playing cards produced in Germany at the beginning of the 15th century. It was only slightly before this that the first royal seals and stamps appeared in the England of Henry VI.

There is a suggestion that the first printing press was an adapted grape press. Whatever its provenance the early printing presses were solid wooden machines that were an essential part of the printing revolution together with ink, paper and type.
While large printing firms progressed to steam driven presses and large format printing, the jobbing printer was also able to improve upon his output with a treadle or even motorised platten press of a smaller scale.
In the latter half of the twentieth century lithography using photographic reproduction replaced "hot metal" type and allowed pages to be more easily laid out with photographs and illustrations.