The use of non-paper media in different printing processes has a long history. The rapid dissemination of movable type printing in Europe between the second half of the fifteenth and throughout the sixteeth centuries also witnessed the experimentation and eventual gradual use of such media as different types of animal skins and of fabrics for letterpress printing, as well as for the reproduction of imagery and designs. Among the earliest references to the printing of imagery on textile was a commission carried out by an Italian printer, dated 22nd April 1574, for a hundred images on paper and the same amount on textile. The early use of such non-paper media included the printing of cartographic material, this given the ease of storage and greater durability that such materials offered.peer-reviewe
