Patent ID: 7442493

Claim:
A printing method comprising: imagewise exposing a lithographic printing plate precursor comprising a support and an image recording layer being removable with a fountain solution or a combination of a printing ink and a fountain solution and loading the exposed lithographic printing plate precursor on a plate cylinder of a printing press, or loading a lithographic printing plate precursor comprising a support and an image recording layer being removable with at least one of a printing ink and a fountain solution on a plate cylinder of a printing press and imagewise exposing the loaded lithographic printing plate precursor; supplying at least a fountain solution comprising a compound represented by the following formula (I) to the exposed lithographic printing plate precursor so as to remove an unexposed area of the image recording layer: wherein A and B each independently represents —CH 2 CH 2 O— or —CH 2 CH(CH 3 )O—, and A and B are groups different from each other; a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i and j each represents an integer of 1 or more, and a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i and j are values given such that the compound represented by the formula (I) has a weight average molecular weight of from 500 to 1,500; and n represents an integer of 1 or more; and performing printing.