Rich colors and detailed images come home in lithographs. Lithography was invented in the late 18th century to make color printing easier. The offset lithography of modern times is a planographic printmaking process where the image is created onto a prepared metal plate and affixed by means of a chemical reaction. This printing process is used to reproduce original works of art as well as books and magazines. Lithographic reproductions are copies of any type of art across any medium. These are referred to as posters and are created from a photograph of the original image that is transferred to photosensitive lithographic plates.