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 assist 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 assistance 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 Dürer'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
institute 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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