Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-03-24
LithOgraphH.

1AC dAl VI AAOlA slOuC Ohcc
its invention to what may be called an
accident, which was taken advantage
of by a young German. In 1873, a
washerwoman called at the house of a
Madame Senefelder, at Munich, for
the weekly wash, but the list not
being made out, the Madame reques-
ted her son to write it. He could find
no scrap of paper, his ink was dry,
and the woman being impatient at the
delay, he seized smooth, soft, cream
colored stone, and with rough lump
of paste, made of lampblaek, wax, soap
and water, hastily inscribed upon it
the required list. AlOis Senefelder
had written plays, but being very poor,
had endeavored to print them himself;
and in various experiments had pro-
cured the paste with which he COW
cred over the errors he made in en-
craving copper plates, and which was
in fact an oily pencil. Though its
properties were then unknown, it was
really one of the essentials of the art
of lithography. The stone, which was
soft limestone, he had procured to re-
place the copper plates, : which were
too expensive for his limited means.-
Before rubbing out his hasty scrawl of
the wash list he tried the effect of
aquafortis upon the letters, which he
left on them for five minutes, when he
found that the liquid had eaten away
the stone to the depth of a tenth of an
inch, leaving Tie letters in slight re-
lief. His next thought was to take an
impression of the list on paper, which,
after many failures, he succeeded in
accomplishing, by wetting the whole
stone with water, and then applying
an linking pad. The film of water
kept the oily ink from adhering to
the stone, but did not prevent the adj
herence to the letters written on the
stone with lampblack and soap. Upon
then pressing the stone on paper an
excellent impression of the washing |
list was made, and hthOgraphy was
invented. Continuing his expert |
ments privately, he was almost re-
duced to starvation, and accepted fifty
pounds as a substitute for q conscript, |
but being rejected returned to Munich. I
There he revealed his secret to a court |
musician, and convinced him of its !
value in printing music. These two |
persons united in setting up the first |
lithOgraphic establishment that ever
existed but as usual in the COM |
mencement of new discoveries, little |
but contempt and poverty awaited the |
inventor; and not until after twenty |
years of unrequited labor, during |
which he was patiently developing /
this new art, did he secure even a
small share in its results. Senefelder
is said not only to have created, but to
have developed this branch to its pres
ent state. 1t is claimed that no better /
plain Autographs have ever been exc
cuted than during his lifetime; he also |
introduced the art of tinting them, !
and suggested the process by which |
or color Autographs, are pro-
duced. 1t is also remarkable that /
though the earth has been ransaeked /
for lithographic stones, none have ever
been found equal to the specimen of
that peculiar limestone that Senefel-
der picked up near Munich, uneon-
seiOus of its value. This kind of stone !
it is said, now sells for thirty-five cents
a pound, which makes a stone twenty
inches square worth fifty dollars, and
it can only be found in the same part |
of Germany where it was first discOv-
cred. Chrome lithography, which
brings really beautiful pictures within
the compass of nearly every purse,
was first patented in 1885, since which
time the art has made such progress,
that now copies of fine oil paintings
are produced, which require close in
spectiOn to tell them from the original.
In one of our cities there is a gallery,
where an original oil painting, and
the chrome lithograph taken from it,
are hung up side by side, and people
are puzzled to distinguish between
them. A small picture, thirteen inch
as by ten, requires for its reproduction
-wenty-six slabs of stone, weighing
TWO tons, and worth 81 400. Three
months are required to prepare the
stones for the press, and five months
more to print an edition of 1 600 copies.
Yet though the original of such pic
.ure may command 81, 900 a copy,
which to nearly every purchaser will
give as much pleasure, can be bought
or five dollars. Salable pictures of
his kind can be made at much less !
expense, and ten slabs of stone are
found sufficient for the :
purpose. Each one applies different
,olor, and the more they are used, the
higher is the quality of the picture {
This valuable art, besides its useful 8
less, diffuses among mankind great &
pleasure, and will do much to elevate '
he character and refine the taste of I
otherwise debarred from c
he possession of excellent pictures t
IN art by which the enjoyment of a S
housand dollar painting can be OBJ {
aimed for five dollars is certainly val |
able. e