The union was founded on 13 July 1895, and was originally called the Lithographers' Trade Association.
Groups in Aarhus, Copenhagen and Odense helped create the union.
In 1903, the union established a section for process workers, followed in 1910 by one for stone and plate preparers.
However, this loose federation made no progress, and in 1965, the typographers resigned from the LO and the cartel.
They rejoined LO in 1971, forming a new Graphics Cartel in 1972, but again this ran into disputes, and was dissolved in 1980.