Nebraska advertiser., 1870-01-20
Chrome LithOgraphy i'm Amer
lea.

Mr. Parton, in his essay on "Popu-
larizing Art" published in the AtLdH-
tic Monthly for March, gives an inter
esting sketch of the early history of
the business (already grown to be
great commercial interest of chrome
lithography in the United States.
He tells US that, Mr.. Louis Prang,
then the owner of a small llithOgraphic
printing-offic in Boston { somewhere
up in the lofty regions of building
in Merchants Row }, found himself
completely ruined, to all appearances,
by the outbreak of the civil war. His
presses were covered with dust; he
had dismissed his WOrkmen; no one
came near him; and being still in debt
for his presses and stones, he was not
to be reckOned, just then, among the
fortunate of his species. Suddenly, in
the midst of his strugglings, a friend
threw the drowning man an oar, by
suggesting the publication of q mill
taFy map of Charleston haTbOr. This
was when every eye was strained to
see the strange dOings of the South
opposite the doomed walls of Fort
MOultrie and Fort Sumter. Mr. PTang
eagerly made the experiment; and it
proved to be the tide in his affairs
which led him on to fortune. Says
PartOn:-
"a few days after, the occupants of
the lofty building in which Mr.. Prang
had his small shop, were at first sur
prised and then annoyed by the thun-
der of newsbOys tramping up and
down the stairs leading to the lithO-
grapher's room. Four presses were
soon running. The master of the
shop, with surprise and pleasure
beaming from his cOuntenance, of
late so detected, was handing out cop
les of the map by ones, twOs, dozens.
twenties and hundreds, damp from
the stones, as fast as the presses could
print them. On the first day before
the maps had got into the shop win
dOws and upon the news-stands, so
large n number of single copies were
sold, at twenty-five cents each, by the
publisher himself, that he had at
night hatful of silver coin. The
flow of cash came so suddenly and so
unexpectedly that he did not know
where to put it and was obliged to use
his hat for want of a reservoir more
convenient. The little map was a
hit. 1t sold to the extent
of forty thousand copies before the
public mind was turned to other
scenes
Mr.. Prang followed up this success
by other equally popular maps; then,
by card portraits of the Union Gene
rails and heroes and i'm this way he
accumulated the capital upon which
his present business was founded. !
His first attempts at chTOmO-lithO- |
graphy were his album cards of flow
ers, fruit, MOSES, birds, autumn leaves |
and miniature landscapes-all painted |
from Nature by artists whom he en- |
ployed for the purpose; and so well |
did these unpretentiOus publications [
please the public, that one series Of a
dozen roses, for example, fifty thOus-
and sets hrye been sold.
"And So" says Mr.. Parton, "by
steps this able man arrived /
at the production of foil chrOmO-lithO-
graphs. His first attempts were fail
Ures. A set of four Cuban scenes,
the first of the Prang chrOmOs, which |
were sold together in paper pOrtfo-
lilo, did not strike the public favOra-
bly,. There was nothing to hang up
in the parlor. Mr.. Prang next tried a
pair of landscapes, which also failed /
to allure five dollar bills from the l
passers by. His third attempt was
Taits Group of Chickens, and this
was an immediate. great and perma-
nent snccess. This encouraged him 4
to persevere, until now his list of full
chrOmOs embraces forty subjects, and /
he has been able to build the first
factory that was ever erected for a
chromo-lithographic business in any
part of the world. With seventy
men and forty presses, he is only Just
able to supply the demand. It would
now be hard to find a house or school
room in which there is not somewhere
a bit of briliancy executed at this
establishment.
Mr.. Parton discusses land very eff
demolishes the vulgar error
that the production of chromos will
lessen the demand for excellent OFigi-
nal works. He treats the singular
notion in this felicitOus manReT:-
1.-The Ostentation of the rich in this
kind of luxury ministers to the pleas
ure of the rest of mankind; just as
the pride of a class pays for the opera
WHICH IIlS POOA hidfl CttH euJOg lOL heAt
to nothing in the gallery. The reason
why I, in this city of New York, own
3 fine park of eight hundred acres, is
because sundry rich men felt the need
Of a more convenient place for dis
playing their equipages on fine after
Moons. We may rely upon it, that
The persons who now buy expensive
works will continue so to do and that
5hese chromOs will enhance rather
-han diminish the value of originals
because the possession Of an original \
will confer more distinction when I
every one has copies and it is diatinc-
ion which the foolish part -four race
tesires, Nor is it slight adyantagei