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.