The Invention of Lithography Part 6

I was delighted with this activity, especially as I hoped for a part of the profit for myself at the end of the year; but Herr Steiner, instead of accounting to me, a.s.sured me that I could entertain no hopes for ten years, as Herr von Hartl's investment of twenty thousand gulden would have to be repaid before there could be any question of dividing profits. I realized what this meant; and to avoid bringing a lawsuit, for which I lacked the means anyway, I decided to sell Herr Steiner my interests. He offered me six hundred gulden, and when, at last, I accepted it, he paid me fifty gulden because he had a claim on Herr Gleissner for five hundred and fifty gulden, something of which I had been in ignorance.

The loss of this business pained me, but Herr von Hartl comforted me with the example of other inventors, who had received no better returns.

Now the cotton-printery was my only hope. A third of the Pottendorf Company had declared itself in favor of erecting a factory, and in fact one thousand two hundred gulden had been appropriated to make a trial on a large scale. I went to Pottendorf and ordered a machine in which the cylinders were of cast-iron instead of copper, because Herr Thornton had two very handsome iron cylinders, two yards long and eight inches in diameter, which had been intended for another purpose but were sufficient for my trials.

As soon as the printing-machine was ready, Herr Thornton had it connected with the water-wheel of the cotton-spinnery, so that one needed only to pull a cord to set the cylinders in motion and see the printing of the cotton proceed without human help, as if of itself.

Nothing was needed now except to etch the design in the upper cylinder.

The design consisted of a simple little flower, many times repeated, and it seemed to me to be anything except difficult. But after I had covered the cylinder with the etching surface and started to work with the graver, I saw, after a very few strokes, why it had not been possible before this to produce cotton patterns by etching and why engraving had been necessary.

It was not possible for me to draw even three of the little flowers into the etching surface with the free hand so firmly and evenly as this sort of printing demanded if it was to appear thoroughly accurate to the eye.

This was in spite of the fact that I had first drawn the design carefully in measured squares on stone and transferred it in red to the black cylinder. My strokes were too trembling and uneven, so that I nearly gave up the hope of ever doing anything excellent in this way, unless I were to expend as much or more time than would be needed for the regular process of engraving.

The failure of this attempt, and the disgrace that would come to me as a result, spurred me on to invent some method to overcome the difficulty of drawing. I succeeded so unexpectedly that the very failure became the means to greater perfection.

To cover the entire surface of the cylinder it would be necessary to draw thirty thousand flowers. Had I not experienced the slightest difficulty, I still would have needed half a minute for each flower, and thus I would scarcely have been able to finish an entire cylinder inside of a month. But I invented a drawing-machine with which, though I was not a skillful draftsman, I could draw the entire design within two days, and with an accuracy that hardly could be attained by the engraving-tool. With this instrument I drew the design on the black etching surface of the cylinder, etched it and made a sample printing which, when it was repeated afterward in presence of Furst von Esterhazy and other members of the company, earned universal praise.

Herr von Hartl planned to obtain an exclusive franchise for this cylinder cotton-printing, sell it to the company, and have me appointed as director, something like Herr Thornton, who drew not only a decent salary but also a fourth part of the profit from the entire spinnery. As I could see readily that a company with such enormous resources could soon bring a cotton-print establishment to a great stage, it did not seem impossible to me that the annual income might rise to a million, as in the Ebreichsdorfer factory. If the net profits were only five per cent, there still would be more than twelve thousand gulden annually for me, and I was sure to be a rich man in a short time. So I thanked Herr von Hartl heartily and continued to perfect my process in every tiny detail.

The fear had arisen that iron cylinders might affect the handsome reds and other fine colors. Herr Thornton, who had become my friend, promised to make for me cast copper cylinders with iron cores: and his preparations for this work were almost completed when again fate ruined all my hopes.

Napoleon had just completed the Continental blockade; and the English cotton stuffs were not to be had anywhere. This forced all the weavers and manufacturers of the inland to buy from the Pottendorfer Works, and the sale of their output became so great that the formerly overcrowded storehouses were emptied in a short time. "Why should we erect a new, different factory? Rather let us enlarge the present one." This was the general and entirely sensible decision of the company. Herr von Hartl would not interest himself further in the process, because our hope of an exclusive franchise had been ruined through the treachery of a foreman in the spinnery, who had made drawings of our machine and sold them to various cotton-making establishments, who were already imitating the process. So there was nothing left for me except to seek my fortune elsewhere.

In my pain over my oft-ruined hopes I complained to a good friend, Herr Madlener, a tinner in Pottendorf, and this n.o.ble man was ready at once to seek another opportunity for me. The very next day he told me that a cotton-printer in Vienna, Herr Blumauer, would pay me five hundred gulden for a small model press for cylinder printing on cotton. This turned out true. Fourteen days later he made me acquainted with the brothers Faber, who had a cotton-works in St. Polten, and who, on Madlener's recommendation, made an extremely satisfactory contract with me for the erection of a complete cylinder printery.

I thought myself happy to come into relations with this firm at whose head were two of the n.o.blest of men, and was just ready to go to St.

Polten, when my destinies received a new direction through a strange chain of circ.u.mstances, that opened for me an excellent prospect again of making great advances in improving my lithographic invention.

My brothers had written to me several times while I was in Vienna, complaining about scarcity of work and their resultant poverty.

Therefore it is not to be wondered at that I did not exactly long to return to Munich, despite the fact that my hopes in Vienna had become steadily less. Probably I should have returned again to Herr Andre in Offenbach, as Gleissner and his family were pretty well placed with Steiner and Grasnitzky, had not Madame Gleissner conceived the idea of making personal inquiries about the conditions in Munich.

Shortly before, a Bavarian court musician had visited Vienna and had visited his friend Gleissner. From him we learned that my brothers were doing very well. They had good positions with the Feyertag School and had sold their franchise for stone-printing to the Royal Government. It was even reported that they had formed a company with Herr von Hazzi to establish a press and publishing house, and that they expected to get a comfortable building from the Government.

Madame Gleissner went to Munich at once and ascertained that the report was true. She also met our old apprentice, Grunewald, who had left Vienna in 1804 with one of our note-writers, Held, to erect a stone-printing establishment for Breitkopf and Hartl in Leipsic. He had just returned to Munich, and he induced Madame Gleissner to join him in erecting a small printing-house, which she did all the more willingly, since she hoped that it would earn her expenses for her in Munich. This occasion led to her acquaintance with Abt Vogler, who gave her several pieces of music to print.

Stone-printing pleased Abt Vogler so much that he proposed to Freiherr Christoph von Aretin, Royal Court and Central Library Director, to establish a printery and take into partnership the inventor as well as Herr Gleissner. Freiherr von Aretin was willing, and they made a provisional contract with Madame Gleissner, under which I and her husband were to go to Munich and establish a stone-press, for which Freiherr von Aretin and Abt Vogler would furnish the money.

I was pleasantly surprised when Madame Gleissner returned to Vienna with this news. Freiherr von Aretin was one of my old schoolmates in the Munich Gymnasium; and as he always used to gain the first prize in everything from the lowest cla.s.s to the highest, I had entertained the greatest respect for him since youth. I would have thought myself fortunate even then to make his nearer acquaintance, because I ever have had a decided admiration for remarkable persons.

In later days it happened once that my mother dwelled in his house and could not pay her rent, owing to certain misfortunes, and when she asked him to excuse the delay he made her a present of the entire sum. This proof of a n.o.ble soul was not calculated to lessen my regard for him.

Therefore I s.n.a.t.c.hed at the proposal with joy.

She had been urged earnestly to hurry matters, as Abt Vogler had various works which he wished to have printed as soon as possible. Unfortunately my contract with the brothers Faber, which I had signed the day before, would have delayed me for many months. I tried, therefore, if I could induce them to permit me to spend a few months in Munich before I started their work in St. Polten. The excellent men agreed gladly, and even advanced money to me that I might have various copper cylinders made in Munich, so that I would be able to go ahead without delay later in St. Polten.

PART III

FROM 1806 TO 1817

I left Vienna with Herr Gleissner and his family in October, 1806. First we traveled to Cloister Atl near Wa.s.serburg in Bavaria, which Freiherr von Aretin had bought recently, and where Abt Vogler awaited us. He proposed to erect the printery in the cloister; but when he saw that I was not at all pleased with the idea, he started with us for Munich.

Hardly had we arrived there before Abt Vogler suggested several plans which all contemplated only his own profit, and which would have redounded to Freiherr von Aretin's disadvantage. When he realized at last that we would not agree to his demands, and when Freiherr von Aretin insisted that Herr Vogler pay his share of the capital at once and in cash, instead of paying it by furnishing music whose value he set very high, he severed his connection with our company. There was also the added reason that the Royal Academy of Sciences did not reelect him as a member, a fact which made him wish to leave Munich as soon as possible.

At this time a former workman of my younger brother Karl, a man named Strohhofer, commenced a printery. Madame Gleissner stopped this unlawful violation of our rights with the aid of the royal police, and this impelled Strohhofer to seek Abt Vogler, probably in order to gain his intercession with Freiherr von Aretin.

Vogler thought that he had made an important discovery, as the man knew how to speak very impressively of his knowledge and skill. He imagined that he could publish his works without our aid, perhaps even without cost. Therefore he promised to a.s.sist Strohhofer, made an appointment with him for a future day, and suggested to him how he could support himself meantime by selling the secret of the art.

Stuttgart was one of the towns suggested to him. Strohhofer circulated a pompous proclamation there, boasting of his talents and offering his services to anybody and everybody. Thus he came into communication with Herr Cotta. The inferiority and incompleteness of his knowledge were perceived very soon; but as even the imperfect results hinted at the importance of the new printing process, the result was that finally, through the a.s.sistance of an art-lover, Herr Rapp, the book, _The Secret of Stone-Printing_, was published by Herr Cotta. It was the first publication that showed true appreciation publicly of the art.

Immediately in the beginning of our establishment in Munich, our enterprise gained brilliant aspects through Freiherr von Aretin's activity. Several presses were operated, for music, for governmental work, and even for art. Then came the publication of Albrecht Durer's _Prayer-Book_, which gave us an honorable reputation. This work was acclaimed by all art-lovers, and the conviction gained ground everywhere that the new process which hitherto had possessed few friends, was not so unimportant as had been believed generally.

The professor of the Feyertag School, Herr Mitterer, had done important preparatory work in Munich to gain a favorable decision. My brothers had imparted to him the entire process. He had found that the so-called crayon process, of which I had shown proofs as early as 1799, was best adapted for his purpose of reproducing elementary drawing-lessons, and he had succeeded in inducing the Government to establish a lithographic inst.i.tute under his direction, in which my brothers were employed as lithographers. To be sure, this was a violation of my franchise; but the reason was that the authorities supposed my brothers to be the owners of the franchise, both on account of the name and because they had conducted the Munich printery for some years in my name.

Freiherr von Aretin counted on the sole use of the franchise, which he had believed to be una.s.sailable when he formed our company and advanced the necessary money; but when in time he complained because the Royal Government as well as private persons established printeries, he received the reply that the art had long ceased to be a secret,--as if a condition of the franchise had been that a useful process must be kept secret. In that case I could not have employed any man either for drawing or printing, as that would have involved the loss of secrecy and thus the loss of the franchise.

My connection with Freiherr von Aretin lasted four years. During this time I turned out a great amount of government work, such as circulars, statistical tables, charts, etc., besides many specimens in various forms of art. At that time the idea was first conceived for the present text-book of lithography, and, indeed, we published the first installment of the sample plates. Still, our enterprise was far less successful than Freiherr von Aretin and I had hoped.

It was very difficult to obtain skillful workmen, especially writers and artists. Even Strixner and Pilotti, whom we had engaged and who worked at producing facsimiles of the Royal Manual Drawing Cabinet, were very slow to gain the necessary perfection and speed. And again we lacked the manager, namely, a man who understood business and knew what to produce and how to sell it.

I myself was heavily burdened, as I had not only to exercise continual supervision of the five presses, but also was practically the only one who could prepare the plates for those presses. Added to this was the fact that the printers were almost all uneducated men, some of whom could not even read, and they spoiled many plates that I had to reproduce. This caused so much loss of time that already was insufficient, that it is no wonder that several presses came to a standstill frequently. Luckily there were government jobs at times that demanded fifteen thousand and more impressions. This enabled me to prepare new material while the presses were busy. On the whole, however, this work had the disadvantage of demanding such speed that usually all the five presses had to work at it, so that, when it was done, they were all at a standstill together, sometimes for weeks; and then the wages, etc., consumed the previous profit, so that in the end little or nothing was left.

Thus it was natural that Herr von Aretin, who was being annoyed at this time by other affairs, began to lose his enthusiasm for lithography.

Therefore, when he had to go to Neuburg as Governmental-Director, and could not partic.i.p.ate personally any more, and when, at the same time, Herr Gleissner and I obtained situations with the Royal Tax Service, he sold the establishment to Herr von Manlich, the Director of the Royal Gallery, and to Herr Zeller, a merchant.

Although our connection was broken in this manner, and despite the fact that we had not won the expected results, still stone-printing had attained respect and support through Freiherr von Aretin's patronage. We had to thank him for the fact that our inst.i.tution was praised by the most celebrated native and foreign statesmen, and even by their Royal Highnesses, the Crown Prince of Bavaria and his most n.o.ble sister Charlotte, present Empress of Austria. Our beloved Crown Prince wrote on paper with the so-called chemical or stone-ink, "Lithography is one of the most important inventions of the century." And his n.o.ble sister wrote the short but eloquent words, "I honor the Bavarians!" These lines were printed on the stone in their presence.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince exhibited so much interest in this Bavarian invention that he condescended to order the sculptor, Kirchmeier, of Munich, to model my bust in plaster, so that in the future, when lithography should have attained an honorable place in the whole public estimation, it could be carved in stone and erected among the most celebrated artists of Bavaria.

In general my connection with Freiherr von Aretin had given me several well-founded prospects for an active and honorable future. He promised that, when his circ.u.mstances permitted, he would put me into position to use my entire time only for making useful inventions, for which purpose I should have all the material and workers that I might need. We would then investigate all branches of art and industry, to discover possibilities of improvement. He possessed the true viewpoint, appreciating how I could best be useful to the fatherland, and perhaps to all humanity. I shall ever consider it as my greatest misfortune that circ.u.mstances made it impossible to carry out this plan, and thus to justify the great confidence that he reposed in my inventiveness and ability.

A second beautiful hope arose in France, where I was encouraged by Freiherr von Aretin to expect the management of an imperial lithographic inst.i.tute, with a great financial allowance, Herr von Manlich, and the French artist, Herr Denon, who was in high favor with Napoleon, having made strong efforts to that end. This hope also met disappointment owing to the circ.u.mstances of the times.

A third hope of no less importance was to erect a cotton-printery in Munich or Augsburg in a.s.sociation with His Excellency Count von Arco, Court Chamberlain of Her Royal Highness the widowed Kurfurstin of Bavaria. This was ruined by the clumsiness of a Munich wood-turner, who made such uneven cylinders that we could not produce any satisfactory specimens. Although I made arrangements at once for a large English machine, like those used by Mr. Thornton, its manufacture was so slow that two years elapsed, and during this time our entire lithographic establishment was dissolved.

The idea of a cotton-printery was an unfortunate one, which not only cost much time and a great sum of money, but also had the unpleasant result that I could not fulfill my contract with the Faber brothers and thus, in addition to the resultant personal financial loss, had the pain of appearing before these most n.o.ble men in a poor light.

All this trouble was caused as follows. On invitation of Count von Arco, his brother-in-law, Count von Montgelas, Royal Minister of State, visited our inst.i.tution and examined our work. At the request of Freiherr von Aretin I made an experimental printing with the little model cotton-printing press that I had brought from Vienna. It won his approval. Freiherr von Aretin intended to ask for a franchise for this process in Bavaria, where it had not yet been introduced. The Minister promised this and also held out the hope of a considerable financial a.s.sistance from the Government. Then I was foolish enough to try to increase his interest by telling him of the value that foreign lands set on this process, and thus I informed him of my contract with the Fabers.

But this had an unexpected result. His Excellency heard the information most ungraciously, and said that I must not hope for the least a.s.sistance in Bavaria if I permitted myself to be used for the advantage of another state. He even declared that there was a royal rescript forbidding Bavarian subjects from using an art in foreign lands if its exclusive use were of importance for Bavaria. This rescript, said he, fitted my case exactly, and it was forbidden to me, under pain of highest disfavor, to proceed farther with the Austrians.

This embarra.s.sed me mightily. Freiherr von Aretin and Count von Arco promised to urge the Minister to permit me to go to Vienna, on the ground that this method of printing cotton was no invention of mine, having been used long ago in England and for some time in Austria. But Freiherr von Aretin was not very desirous that I should absent myself for several months in the very beginning of our enterprise, and thus time pa.s.sed without the hoped-for permission.

As the Fabers pressed me earnestly to fulfill my agreement, I devised a subterfuge that might permit me to keep my promise and still not lay myself open to too great a responsibility. I wrote to them advising them to have their correspondent in Munich demand through the court that I be forced to fulfill the contract. I considered that the city courts in Munich would have no particular knowledge of the royal rescript or, at least, that they would not immediately remember it, and that, when I admitted the existence of the contract, they would command me to keep it at once. Then I would obey immediately, and afterward could justify myself with the Bavarian Government by pointing to the court's decree.

It would surely have succeeded had not the correspondent of the Fabers failed in business after bringing suit, owing to which the matter got into another lawyer's hands. This man immediately adopted a new strange course. Instead of demanding a fulfillment of the contract, he sued for twelve thousand gulden damages for their loss of time. Of course I had to fight for my skin now; and as he refused to content himself with my agreement to fulfill the contract, I was forced at last to defend myself by falling back on the royal rescript. Thus I escaped by merely repaying the money already advanced; but I lost the considerable sum that would have been a.s.sured to me had I been permitted to spend only two months in St. Polten.

Thus none of the good prospects that opened themselves through my connection with Freiherr von Aretin proved so good as I had been justified in hoping: nay, it seemed as if I had only labored day and night to give others the benefits accruing from my painful labors, while I barely supported existence.