Le Sortie de l'opéra en l'an 2000 / A. Robida.

The invention of lithography at the turn of the 19th century opened a new world for bird illustrators. It brought many advantages to the artist — ease of use, a softness of line, and a new freedom to effect bold designs with a wide range of light and dark tones. Most of the fine ornithology books of the 19th century were prepared in folio format with hand-colored lithographic plates. The lithographic process is one of flat surface printing from a design drawn on stone. It is based on the principle of the resistance of grease to water. There are no raised or cut portions, as there are in engraving and etching. The image is drawn with greasy ink or chalk on a smooth stone, and the rest of the stone is treated with gum arabic and nitric acid. The gum retains the lines of the greasy design, which repels the water used in printing. Special paper and ink, as well as a special press, are needed to produce the prints. First used for bird illustration in 1820, lithography was widely adopted by the best artists of the century. The technique was popular because the artist could draw his own illustration directly on the lithographic stone. Prints could be made from the drawing with no intermediary such as an engraver. Accurately reproduced and then colored by hand, the resulting illustrations gave the impression of original watercolor paintings.

Retro-Futurism​ and Vintage [Science] Fiction Images Collection Retrofuturism is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipating what will come, retrofuturism is the remembering of that anticipation.

The futurism movement looked at how the imagined future would have looked like for people during and prior to the 1960s (think of it as us looking at people from the past, who are looking back at us, who are from the future, or our present moment). Retrofuturism, on the other hand, combines elements of the past and the future in a nostalgically idealized vision of what the future could have been. It is characterized by a fascination with futuristic technology and design from the past, often depicted in science fiction literature and art, and a desire to recreate or reimagine that vision in the present. Retrofuturism often includes elements of science fiction, nostalgia, and a sense of longing for a future that never came to pass. It can be seen in various forms of media, including literature, film, television, art, and design, and has had a significant influence on popular culture. The dubious origins of the term indicate that it was first used by Lloyd Dunn in 1983 as presented by the Fringe Art Magazine (1988 to 1993). Other indications mention it was also utilized by the author T.R. Hinchcliffe in his book titled, Retro-futurism (1967), which was published by Pelican Books. However, there are various sources that indicate the book does not exist and some sources provide evidence that it does.