The Detroit times., 1911-04-08
L|THOGRAPHT|S
OVER CENTURY OLD
Discovered by Bohemian in l7s6
But Last 30 Years Show Great
improvements.

Lithography was discovered by
Alloys Senefelder, who was born at
Prague, the capital OF Bohemia. In
llTIl. The discovery dates probably
from 1898. when Senefelder's atten.
tion was drawn 90 the properties OF
lithographic stone by singular oe-
currence.
One day while experimenting and
having only well-pollshed lithographic
stones, his mother came into the room
and asked him 70 write out bill for
or pen nj hand he jotted down the
items OF the bill on the clean stone,
using for this purpose the ink he had
prepared as an etching ground, which
was composed Of waxsoap and lamp
black Some time later when going
10 rub the writing from the stone. IL
occurred 10 Henefslder that he might
eteh ID In relief and II necessary, IL
might prove an saRy method of get
Ins his musical places printed.
would say hsrs that he was
playwright and publisher OF music. and
being very poor hs had difneulty In
getting the money with which 70 pub
lish his compositions,
His attention had previously been
drawn 10 ths fact that no one OF the
photographic stones, which were then
used as hearth stones In that country
-as the stones were very plentiful
and frequently used for that purpose,
and were susceptible OF being grained
and polished bowl OF porridgo had
been split and he noticed afterwards
that whsrs ths poridgs had been
split the stons remained clean.
but gradually tt attracted the grease
and dirt, which gave IL o stain diner'
snt In appearance from the portion
whsrs ths porridgs had been split on
the stone, He conducted his expert
msnts with great patisnos and perss-
ysFanss, aud finally nsw discovery
dAwnsd upon bim-ithography.
His first experiments were By plae-
ing his work on stone, and etchfng II
30 NJ 70 raise these portions OF the
stone In relief. making what 10 called
high etching" put he soon found the
real principle IN lithography. which
was, In short, daub OF grease ON
clean polished stone would receive
printing ink and refuse water, while
the other parts Of tho stone that were
not affected by the grease would re-
tain moisture and refuse 10 take on
ink. the natural principle Of the mu-
tual repulsion OF grease and water
coming into play. And this is prac-
tically the secret OF lithography, as
our printing Is done on an absolutely
fat surface, having neither cavity nor
projection.
SenafeIder continued his expert
ment and he constructed q rude wood
en- press and was his own artist and
printer for time.
He tried to get aid from the Ger
man government TO develop the In
dustry. but was unsuccessful: he, how
ever, turned his attention to the
French government, who appropriate
ed s6,0e0.e0 for the purpose or pro-
noting the enterprise, and this was
the means of first making the industry
practicable. From this time on ith-
ography appears to have gradually
gained In use, and, finally, In the year
1S4O. lithographic color printing was
brought out In London, and Its first
appe. rance produced a great sensa-
ton. A number of nthographio es-
tablfshmants were opened, not only
in England, but also In France and
Germany, and although the finest col
or work appears to have been done In
London, yet the trade grew In Ger
many more than In any other country.
In proportion to Its population, "
may be said that Germany leads IN
the greatest number or hthograpnlc
establishments of any country IN the
world.
would say here that lithographic
stones had been used by the Turks
many years previous to this time, IN
the construction OF their mosques. IL
was their favorite stone and used
more than any other stone.
Within the last twenty years great
improvements have been made N ~
photographic machinery, especially the
"multi-color" pres. which prints
number Of colors at one time.