By the second half of the 19th century, lithographers were using a wide variety of lithographic printing presses, depending on the purpose and print run of the intended stone. A pass through a lithographic hand-press was sufficient for small print runs or for the taking of a proof.
According to Louis Maurer, an artist who worked for Currier & Ives in various capacity over numerous years, Currier & Ives’ large folios lithographs were not printed by the thousand on a production press at the factory. They were printed by Charles Currier--Nathaniel’s brother who worked as a contractor for the firm--on a hand press, and purely on demand.
Before Currier started to collaborate with Palmer in 1849, the firm produced less than five lithographs using a tint stone. An example, The Celebrated Trotting Horse Trustee as he appeared in his 20th mile (1848, Library of Congress) presents evidence that the lithographer had significant difficulty with registration. As a result, the image quality is low and the colors overlap in unintentional ways.
