Different papers have totally different looks so I wouldn't just say use Ilford or Foma without a better understanding of what you want. Take a look at the lith groups in flickr to get a better idea of different looks that are possible. My gallery on apug also has quite a few papers represented. That is the best thing about lith: the variety of papers gives a choice of different looks depending on the goal of the print.
The papers I've tried and found to work well are Fomatone (brown to yellow to orange tone with moderate grain), Fomabrom (close to neutral and as grainy as you can get), Slavich Unibrom (slightly warmer than Fomabrom still reasonably neutral, very grainy except as compared to Fomabrom, dirt cheap), Emaks (warmtone, reasonably tight grain), Kentmere warmtone vc (discontinued, grainy with a nice cold shadows and warm, beigey-pink highlights). I have zero experience with Ilford Warmtone, but if it is a favorite of Bob's, I'm sure it is good. As far as developer goes, I'd stick with Rollei, Moersch or Fotospeed. Others like Arista work, but I've found that the first three to work better plus I'm pretty sure they don't have formaldehyde. And, no, you really don't need sodium sulfite or bromide to start out. I have them both in my darkroom and never touched them for lith work.
The advice about nitrile gloves or smooth faced tongs is a good one. The face of lith prints is easily damaged. Last, but not least, use a tray one size bigger than the print to get even agitation. Lith printing demands good, clean working habits. OK, one last comment: Tim Rudman's book has everything you would want to know and is articles alternativephotography.com and unblinkingeye.com give you everything you need to get started except up to date info on papers. Tim is the master of all things lith.
