The Invention of Lithography. Alois Senefelder
which has been desired so long and from all sides; and he wishes that I shall say something about the history of its production. I seize the opportunity gladly to prove the esteem and the friendship that the talent of this honorable contemporary and fellow countryman, a talent combined with the utmost ambition and with childlike good nature and unselfishness, have inspired in me.
One may not declare that his contemporaries showed indifference to the invention of lithography to which his fortunate star led Herr Alois Senefelder, and to the improvements that he sought with thousands of experiments and restless labor. On the contrary, the invention has spread itself with surprising speed through Europe and beyond, and has been received with admiration everywhere. But the lack of proper instruction, due to the many who had learned it only partially and introduced it only for the sake of a small, passing profit, has hampered its perfect success.
Therefore the inventor, who, happily, still lives among us, has been urged from near and far to tell the story of his important, many-sided discovery, and to give instructions for its use, that is, to produce such a work as is before us now.
But the artistic genius, full of his subject, would far rather work, experiment, strive, than write! Many times Herr Senefelder decided to set down how he happened on this art, how the successive steps of its development were reached, and at what point of development its various processes now stand; but always his ceaselessly striving spirit showed him something new that might be achieved, and forced him back again into his element—experimentation.
Thus the "Pattern Book," begun in 1809, remained unfinished and without text; and the other work, announced two years ago by Herr Andre, in Offenbach, as being undertaken by him with Herr Alois Senefelder, hardly would have seen the light.
A forceful impetus from without was needed to compel Herr Senefelder to fulfill the general request of the public. It came as follows. Many statements in print attracted my attention. They credited the invention of lithography to Paris, to London; and in Munich there were various contradictory legends, some alleging that Herr Alois Senefelder had made the very first experiments and others crediting them to Herr Schmidt in Miesbach, at that time Professor in Munich. I considered it my duty to clear away this uncertainty and to prepare a critical history of this invention while it still was possible.
The weekly Anzeiger für Kunst und Gewerbfleiss in the kingdom of Bavaria, which has appeared since 1815, exists for the purpose of producing annals of the art and industrial history of Bavaria. Therefore, toward the end of 1816 and early in 1817, I inserted some letters about the invention of lithography and called on all friends of native art history to point out any inaccuracies and send proofs to the contrary, that the truth might thus be ascertained about a subject of great literary value for this generation and for posterity. More than all, I urged Herr Alois Senefelder, then absent, "to produce a detailed history of his invention as soon as possible, with a text-book embellished by specimen plates, in which the full use of the art might be truly and clearly explained." I sent this printed letter to Herr Senefelder in Vienna.
The first object of my request has been without much result. Hardly a single voice has been raised to uncover the correct and the incorrect in the various stories with strictly historical accuracy, and thus to bring the truth to light, that lithography may not experience what our Klopstock sings: "Too oft in eternal night is cloaked the inventor's great name!"
I have been more fortunate in my second object. Herr Alois Senefelder recognized my good intention and my pure pleasure in this important art that will give our Bavaria unending fame and spreading celebrity. Since his return to Munich, it has been the subject of many conversations between us, and I have endeavored to enliven the courage and self-confidence of this remarkable man, who often was depressed by the failure of many an enterprise.
My three endeavors—to win the gracious attention of our most high royal family for the latest improvements in chemical printing attained through Herr Senefelder's work; to impel the venerable national institution to which I belong to investigate the art scientifically; and the publication of the text-book and the history of the inventor—these have been not without result.
His Majesty, our most gracious King, this all-honored Father of his nation and his people, and long a gracious promoter of lithography, has taken gracious cognizance of the newest, amazing experiments in metallography and papyrography with which Herr Senefelder busied himself last winter, has encouraged him magnanimously to publish the present work, and has permitted that it shall be dedicated to his noble name. Her Majesty, our supremely honored Queen, herself a connoisseur in the creative arts, also has honored these experiments with her gracious attention, and thus has enlivened the courage and the energy of the artist.
The most celebrated technicians in the Royal Academy have examined these processes and also the various small presses lately invented by Herr Senefelder in order to make stone-printing, and also metal and paper printing available for private use and business, and have given him the most flattering testimonials. The Polytechnic Association of Bavaria also has aided, through its before-mentioned weekly publication, in making Herr Senefelder and his art, and especially his most recent achievements, known in a wider field than might otherwise be possible, and to bring him to the attention of his fellow citizens and interested travelers.
At last, Herr Alois Senefelder has used the hours that he could spare from his continuous experiments and investigations to write down the history of his labors out of his faithful memory; and also to give a full description of all methods invented by him to this time, accompanied by highly instructive specimen pages, partly made by himself and partly by artistic friends, but all printed either with his own hand or under his direct supervision.
Thus with the past winter there developed a new, still more busy life of this rare, useful man; and thus there originated the present work that I do not hesitate to declare as belonging among the most noteworthy productions of the present Leipsic Book Fair.
The book is in two parts: (1) the history of the invention and of the various applications of the new art: (2) the description of the methods for writing, drawing, engraving, transferring, etching, and printing, stated with all the clearness possible, and accompanied with object-lessons in the form of wonderfully successful and instructive specimen plates.
With the great candor inherent in the character of the author he tells faithfully how he came to make his first experiments, what mistakes he made, with what inner and outer difficulties he contended, how one idea led to another, what combinations he tried, what plans, successful and unsuccessful, he made, and under what unrest and embarrassments he lived for many years.
The minute detail of the history and the interpolation of the personal relations of the author and his acquaintances may surprise many readers at first sight; but many of these are intimately connected with the development of stone-printing, and in the cases of others, the author did not have time to re-write what really had been written as only the first draft, because his original intention of re-writing would have prevented the appearance of the book in the present Easter Book Fair.
In the history of an important invention, minuteness hardly can be called a fault. How gladly would we read all the family circumstances of Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust, if there were such a history of the beginnings of typography as now is before us about lithography!
Thus there has been fulfilled the desire that Herr Alois Senefelder tell openly and plainly how he came to discover stone-printing. Now that his testimony and claims lie open to all eyes, it is possible to compare it with the other stories that are told, and to bring the necessary accuracy into the investigation by sharply defining those things that properly may be called stone-print. It is time to urge contemporaries once more to declare anything known to them that is in contradiction of this history, so that a critical history of stone-printing may be produced, with a chronicle of what was done in the early years of the art, how and by whom, so that we may learn if several minds had the idea simultaneously, and thus to do justice to all. It is to be desired that a writer equipped for the purpose with total non-partisanship, utter truthfulness, and clearness of perception and judgment may do this not unimportant service to literature very soon!
As to the text-book, forming the second part of this publication, it has been demanded even