Chromolithography

The process of colour printing known as chromolithography was a turning point in the history of packaging. Prior to this, the laborious process of colouring had been done by hand, mainly by children. Thus, most product packaging was printed in a single colour, usually black on white.

The German, Alois Senefelder, had discovered the monochromatic method of lithography in 1798. This process of printing was introduced in Britain in 1801 and its popularity grew during the early nineteenth-century.

However, the major breakthrough came when a Franco-German, Godefroy Engelmann, patented chromolithography in 1837. It arrived in Britain from the 1840s onwards. The method is known as the printmaking process that brought colour to the masses.