In 1816, Herr Andre came to Munich again, and I imparted to him many of
my recent inventions in regard to lithography. On this occasion we
decided ultimately which of our plates should be put into the work and
which should be discarded. I promised to get seriously to work and we
looked forward so confidently to the completion of the entire
publication that Herr Andre circulated a preliminary notice of it in the
Easter-Messe at Leipsic, whither he went after leaving Munich.
Despite this, there came many delays, the chief one being caused by my
meeting Herr Gerold, book-dealer and printer of Vienna, who invited me
to establish a printery for him. As my presence in Vienna would be
needed for only three months, I believed that this would cause no delay
in the publication of the text-book, because the plates ordered from the
Munich artists could be completed during that time, while I could
furnish the text as well in Vienna as in Munich. But I had the
misfortune of becoming seriously ill soon after reaching Vienna. A great
weakness remained as result, and this made it impossible for me to
undertake the return voyage in the bad weather that marked the winter of
1816-17.
Lithography did not progress particularly with Herr Gerold during my
stay, because he could not obtain the franchise, though he had
petitioned for it a year ago. The greatest blame for this was due to
Herr Steiner's opposition. This man, who had done but little for the art
in the entire time during which he enjoyed the exclusive Austrian
franchise that I had turned over to him, did this from pure ill-will,
because he had suffered similar ill-luck, as he said.
So Gerold could not establish so complete a printery as I wished,
without going into expenses based on an uncertainty. However, various
drawings were made that served to show art-lovers what could be done
with lithography. It would be easy to perfect this art immensely in
Vienna, because there is no lack of excellent artists. Among those who
interested themselves at the very beginning in Herr Gerold's undertaking
were Herr Colonel von Aurach, Herr Captain Kohl, and Herr Kunike, the
drawing-master for the family of Prince von Schwarzenberg. They
convinced themselves with many experiments that lithography was
eminently suitable for the easy reproduction of many styles of drawing,
and recommended the method to all their acquaintances. Through the
experiments of Herr Kunike I gained the conviction that one could print
true originals by using a method of touching up the impressions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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