The Invention of Lithography Part 5

The more important art dealers feared it less than the smaller ones, among whom Herr Sauer and the new Industrie-Komptoir were my most active enemies. Despite this, there opened a way suddenly by which I could make peace with the art dealers and even draw considerable profit from them.

Through Herr von Hartl, I became acquainted with a skillful clavier-player, Teuber, who was also a composer, and at once showed great interest in my invention. He spoke to his acquaintances, Herr Sonnleithner and Herr Ricci. Through their intervention the art dealers asked me if I would abstain from establis.h.i.+ng a music-printery of my own, providing they guaranteed me a sufficient amount of work. I calculated that I could print six thousand sheets of music a day with the three presses that I had planned. This, at the low price of twenty-five kreuzer per hundred impressions, would amount in all to a sum of twenty-five gulden. Also if I accepted, say, work that would average three hundred impressions, there would be needed ten stones, counting two sheets to each stone. Thus there would be a further engraving profit of ten gulden, because I received fifty kreuzer for each sheet, but paid my note-writer only twenty kreuzer. For house, color, acids, polisher's wages, etc., there must be reckoned four gulden a day. The six printers to operate the three presses would cost four gulden a day also. Now if I reckoned two gulden a day for possible accidental errors, etc., there would still remain twenty-five gulden a day profit. This meant seven thousand and five hundred gulden clear profit in the three hundred working days of a year, without the least risk.

As I considered this a satisfactory profit for one single branch of my art, I told Herr Sonnleithner that I would attempt to induce Herr von Hartl to give up the idea of establis.h.i.+ng his own publis.h.i.+ng house, provided that the united art dealers would guarantee me that amount of work and agree also to reimburse me if the presses were not kept busy, excepting through my own fault. Herr Sonnleithner welcomed the proposal, not doubting that the dealers would need all the work stipulated, and, indeed, declaring that the Art and Industrie-Komptoir alone might give me twice that much.

I knew that Herr von Hartl had entertained little regard for this branch of work. Therefore I thought it would delight him to find that he could not only relieve himself from further expense in this line, but gain several thousand gulden. I was mistaken. He deduced that music-printing was not so unimportant as he had imagined; and he told me to inform the dealers that I would take as much work as they offered at low prices, but that we could not make ourselves dependent on them.

As the dealers refused decidedly to give me the means with their own hands of building up a great establishment, the project fell entirely.

However, Herr von Hartl now had declared himself in favor of establis.h.i.+ng a music-printery; and a few days later there came a highly favorable opportunity to start one at once under happy auspices, together with a complete art publis.h.i.+ng establishment.

An acquaintance of my landlady, to whom I had showed my printery, sent for me to tell me that Herr Eder, an art dealer, wished to give up his business because of illness and was willing to sell reasonably. This friend enlarged on the luck it would be to obtain this well-situated shop, which earned several thousand gulden by printing birthday and New Year's cards alone, at the very easy terms which Herr Eder had suggested provisionally. He desired me to see him at once, under the pledge of secrecy, which pledge Herr von Hartl was to give also, as Herr Eder did not wish to injure his credit by offering his establishment openly for sale.

Herr Eder did, indeed, offer most favorable terms, according to my opinion. He showed me that on the average the net profit of his business had been ten thousand gulden annually during the last ten years. (At that time the gulden notes stood at par.) Furthermore he estimated the value of all his printed stock only at the cost of manufacture, and the great stock of copper plates, many newly etched, at merely their value as copper. The large stock of different papers, with the many writing and drawing materials, were estimated at cost value, also. For his trading rights, and for his excellent rental contract which had many years to run, he did not ask anything. The sum that he asked for everything was forty thousand gulden, of which only ten thousand gulden were to be paid at once, the rest being paid in annual installments during the following ten years.

If Herr von Hartl had accepted this, there would have been four thousand gulden net profit a year in it. And by combining with it the advantages of the new process, the profit was certain to be greater. To begin a new publis.h.i.+ng house without mercantile knowledge, without knowing what the public wanted, would be far more difficult than to continue one that already was in operation, especially so as Herr Eder had offered to remain for a year as a.s.sociate to teach me the business.

I cannot yet understand why Herr von Hartl discarded this proposition.

Perhaps he feared that he would be overreached in some way. He might have been more receptive had he been able to foresee that his new establishment would cost him a sum of twenty thousand gulden within a very few years without advancing toward being even the ghost of a business. Perhaps I did not possess the gift of convincing others. At any rate, both projects failed to meet with approval. That Herr von Hartl could be convinced, however, even to his plain injury, I will prove later. For lithography the failure of this plan was a great loss, because it would have given me opportunity to get into the art line ten years earlier than I did, and make useful application of my inventions.

The family Gleissner now arrived in Vienna and brought one of my former apprentices, Mathias Grunewald. Meantime some presses had been completed, and we could begin to print. Gleissner's symphonies recently had been much praised in a musical paper of Leipsic, and he proposed to us to begin with a few of his works. Of course it would have been wiser to begin with a good work by a famous man, whose name was sufficiently popular in Vienna. I did visit Herr Doctor Haydn, but received the reply that he could not compose any more and would only review old works thenceforth.

Immediately at the commencement a stock of stones was needed. As we could foresee that we should need some thousands of stones in the course of time, Herr von Hartl decided to make a trip with me, by way of Munich and Augsburg, to the quarries of Solenhofen that we might inform ourselves on the spot about the best way to get stones.

A further inducement to make this journey was that he wished to examine the estate of Niedau, which had been described as being very favorably situated for the erection of manufactories. Herr von Hartl already had a large spinnery in operation. This, and perhaps the printery, he planned to establish in Niedau, because there both workers and property were cheaper. He intended to leave only the business offices in Vienna.

The establishment of this spinnery had so important an effect on my fate as well as on the future of lithography that I must describe it here.

When I arrived in Vienna, Count von Saurau had just gone to Petersburg as Austrian Amba.s.sador. Being a patron of home industries, he had advanced ten thousand gulden some time before to an expert spinner named Mistelbauer, to erect looms for manufacturing fine English and French stuffs in Austria, a work for which Mistelbauer was perfectly qualified.

When the Count departed, Herr von Hartl took charge of several of his interests, among them the Mistelbauer spinnery. Thus at the next Vienna Messe (market-fair), Mistelbauer visited Herr von Hartl to make an accounting. The goods that Mistelbauer had brought convinced Herr von Hartl of his skill and technical capacity. The details of his processes, and his ingenuity in operating so many looms with so little capital, indicated to Herr von Hartl that increased capital would bring enormously increased results. As the spinnery company had as good as decided that a good part of their own products should be further worked by themselves, Herr von Hartl considered it a lucky circ.u.mstance to meet a particularly good weaver and also a cotton-printer, who alleged that he could print the home-made cottons exactly as well as the English printers and possibly at smaller cost.

He wrote to Count von Saurau that he was willing to a.s.sist Mistelbauer with more money. Count Saurau agreed, and Herr von Hartl advanced money to Mistelbauer till it reached a sum of forty thousand gulden. He appeared only as a creditor, however, and held a mortgage on the entire spinnery, with all its present and future stock, in order to be covered should the operations fail.

Now Mistelbauer was a man who had little or no mercantile talent. He did not understand book-keeping, and though he had managed the original small establishment pretty well, he was not equal to the bigger one. A factor should have been appointed to manage the commercial end and the accounts. Another trouble was that Herr von Hartl, in order to satisfy himself, continually demanded new sample work from him, which, on the other hand, pleased Mistelbauer, as it enabled him to show his skill.

Thus, instead of working steadily along the original sound lines, he kept going into new things. Among others he erected looms to make color, and print Manchester fabrics. Regardless of the fact that I (as he well knew) was working at cotton-printing, and that Herr von Hartl intended to work my inventions, he managed to induce that gentleman to let him erect a cotton-printery, a matter which he did not understand in the least.

Mistelbauer had been a poor peasant boy of Helmannsod by Linz. He had gone into foreign lands in his youth, but when he obtained the ten thousand gulden from Count Saurau, he selected his native place for the works. Even at that time his improved condition aroused the envy of the village; but he lived in a poor hut and differed in nothing from the other inhabitants. When Herr von Hartl a.s.sisted him, he succeeded soon in convincing him that they needed more room, and obtained his consent for building. Instead of erecting a factory, he erected a considerable dwelling, the cost of which was far beyond the original estimates. On account of all the other work undertaken at the same time, nothing could be finished in time, and Mistelbauer was continually too late for the markets with his product. As a result, instead of being punctual with all his payments as he had been heretofore, he could not even pay his interest, and Herr von Hartl had to make new advances all the time.

Naturally Herr von Hartl began to feel apprehensive, and he decided to visit Mistelbauer on the occasion of our journey to Solenhofen.

When we reached Helmannsod, Herr von Hartl shook his head dubiously, especially when he found the accounts in the greatest disorder. But the great stock of goods, though most of them were only half finished, and the thought that everything could be made to go smoothly again with better management, encouraged him, and he instructed Mistelbauer, showing him how to establish order in his works as well as in the accounts.

Then we continued our journey. In Munich, where we remained three days, I visited my mother and my brothers, who all lived together and were operating a press that worked mostly for Herr Falter. According to their a.s.surances, their income had hardly sufficed to support them.

In Augsburg, Herr von Hartl contracted with a paper dealer for the paper necessary for music-printing, and in Solenhofen he bought several hundred stones for this work and made arrangements for future supplies.

Then we returned through Regensburg and Pa.s.sau. This whole journey was one of the greatest pleasures of my life. The weather was excellent, and Herr von Hartl was so kind to me that I was more than ever convinced of his sincere desire for my success.

We engaged two writers of music immediately on our return to Vienna. One was J. Held, a young man recently married, who earned his living by teaching and copying. The second was his brother-in-law. They comprehended the process quickly and soon were so skillful that each earned twelve gulden and more a week, despite the fact that we rarely paid them more than twenty and twenty-four kreuzer for each sheet.

The new smaller works of Herr Gleissner were finished very soon, and it became necessary to find more work to keep my etchers and four printers busy. I asked Herr von Hartl to buy some compositions from Vienna's best musicians, such as Krommer, Beethoven, etc. He was willing, but desired to wait for a proper opportunity to speak to Herr Krommer. Thus some weeks pa.s.sed, and in order to keep the force busy, Herr Gleissner composed continually and printed his work. Nearly a whole year pa.s.sed that way, and still Herr von Hartl had found no opportunity (owing to his many affairs) to arrange with Herr Krommer or other composers.

So it happened that, with the exception of a few overtures, our whole stock of paper and a whole year's work were used solely to print Herr Gleissner's compositions. I myself had hardly anything to do with this printing, which was managed entirely by Herr Gleissner; for I devoted all my time to the study of color and to the necessary thousands of experiments.

Here I had made the unpleasant discovery that most of what was in the books was incorrect, or so incompletely stated that, before one could understand the instructions, one needed to know the entire process of cotton-making and printing. I cannot understand now why it never struck Herr von Hartl or me that I did not need this knowledge at all, and that all that was necessary in order to apply my method to cotton-printing was for me to demonstrate how the printing could be done well and quickly. To get color results it was necessary merely to engage a good color expert, who could a.n.a.lyze colors and decide if they were available for my process. That would have saved us a year and a considerable sum of money which my experiments had cost. I confess that I had a mistaken ambition on this point, wis.h.i.+ng to understand everything myself. Then the study of chemistry was most attractive to me, because I found myself discovering new things of importance for my art all the time.

When at last I was completely informed in the matter of color, I went with Herr von Hartl to the great machine-spinnery in Pottendorf. Here I became acquainted with Herr Thornton and his remarkably complete installation. With his a.s.sistance we made a stone-press for cotton, to print the cotton from large plates. But the correct register of each impression made so much trouble for us that I foresaw the need for many further experiments and inventions. Besides, Herr Thornton was too partial to the English process of cylinder-printing to feel particularly favorable to the stone-process; and in the end it was considered best to order a great piece of stone from Solenhofen from which we might make an eight-inch cylinder.

It was six months before we obtained the requisite stone. During this period it struck me that perhaps the cylinder did not need to be stone, but that we might use copper cylinders, as in England. Herr Thornton objected that copper cylinders must be engraved with the graving tool, and that patterns for cotton should not be etched, since, if etching were practical, the English, who understand etching perfectly, no doubt would etch the cylinders.

To be sure, I could not answer this argument, but I was convinced that a deep-etched stone would print as perfectly and handsomely as the best copper plate. Why, then, could it not be done with copper, since copper permitted itself to be etched so well? I made a little experiment at once, and it succeeded perfectly. Herr Thornton proposed to make completely sure. He had a small model press from England, the cylinder of which had been engraved by the best cotton copper engraver of England. Though it was only six inches long and three inches thick it had cost twenty pounds to engrave. He proposed to have an exactly similar cylinder made, which I was to etch in the same design, so that compet.i.tive impressions could be made with both cylinders. The proposition was accepted. To save money, it was decided to make a cylinder from zinc instead of from copper.

After a few days it was ready and I drove with Herr von Hartl to Pottendorf, where we arrived at half-past ten o'clock in the morning. I started eagerly to do the drawing. As I perceived immediately, it consisted purely of circular lines, and therefore I succeeded in preparing the cylinder, drawing the design, and etching it before two o'clock, at which time we were to have luncheon.

Mr. Thornton, who had expected that I would need at least eight days, was astonished by my speed. To all appearances, the etched cylinder was as good as the engraved one, and now it was merely a question of the printing. He made the first impression with the copper cylinder, which, of course, produced a very pretty piece of work. But when mine was adjusted and the first impression came out, the astonishment of all present reached its maximum, for the impressions were exactly as clear, but at least twice as strong and therefore more beautiful. The reason for this was that the engraving became narrower at the bottom, and therefore held hardly half as much color as the etched lines.

The practicability of my etching process was settled; and Herr von Hartl waited only to lay the matter before the society at the next general meeting before proceeding to its exploitation on a large scale.

Truly it was high time for him to get some returns for his many expenses. The stone-printery had cost him at least six thousand gulden to this date. In return for this investment he had a good quant.i.ty of stones, several presses, and a great stock of Gleissner's music, which represented an income of twenty thousand gulden, if it could be sold.

At last we obtained the long-sought franchise (in 1803), and Herr von Hartl decided to begin the business. I proposed to him to rent a shop and engage an experienced man to manage it. But he replied that I was merely suggesting another burden of nearly two thousand gulden a year, with no certain prospect of a penny's income. Rather, said he, I was to give the finished work to the dealers and let them sell them on a percentage, so that we could see how the public liked stone-printing.

Herr von Hartl was trying at this time to rid himself of all expenses that were not absolutely necessary. He was growing more and more dissatisfied with Mistelbauer, his health was poor, and irritating business troubles were anything but good for him. He expressed his regret many times because he had undertaken so many things. His many enterprises, which up to this time had proved anything but profitable, took so much of his time that he had to give up his far more advantageous interests as Imperial Court Agent, and thus lost heavily in that direction also. The stock of spun wool kept piling up in the company's magazines, and this, too, seemed to promise no greatly satisfactory results.

However, I could see that I could expect only small sales in Vienna if I depended on the dealers, who were my opponents and would hardly be very eager to aid my success. Therefore, I conceived the thought, equally unpractical, as it turned out, of putting our work into the hands of a book publisher; and as I had just observed much empty s.p.a.ce in the shop of Peter Rehm's widow, I agreed with her to turn over our stock to her at twenty-five per cent discount.

It was arranged that there be an accounting each month, and I looked forward to the end of the first month with great impatience, because I hoped for a considerable income. It was highly necessary, to help me pay off the debt that I had loaded on myself to defray Herr Gleissner's traveling expenses,--a debt that now had stood for two years, and that the skillful manipulations of my dear landlady and her faithful legal adviser had increased from four hundred gulden to two thousand. Many times during the month I inquired as to the sales and received the answer that they were good. I was satisfied, and did not require further statements, as I did not wish to antic.i.p.ate the pleasant surprise that I expected when the month's accounting was made. But alas! How I was shocked at the end of the month when the sum of ten gulden and forty-eight kreuzer turned out to be all! I did not know how I could appear before Herr von Hartl with the news. My walk to his house was one of the bitterest of my life. I was not received as badly as I had expected. On the contrary, Herr von Hartl comforted me and advised me to have patience, that all beginnings were slow, etc. In short, I enjoyed the most pleasant antic.i.p.ations again. Unhappily, at the end of the second month the accounting gave us one gulden, thirty-six kreuzer. Now the patience of Herr von Hartl reached its end.

He had just lost heavily again in the Mistelbauer affair. It worried him seriously, and as his health continued poor, he inclined to listen to the advice of his wife, who represented to him that he did not need to burden himself thus, and that he would better pocket his losses and retire from all the matters that worried him.

Therefore, when his secretary, Steiner, advised him to send a certain Grasnitzky to Helmannsod, he accepted the suggestion, and Grasnitzky went there with unlimited power to do what he thought best. Now of course it was vital that Grasnitzky be absolutely honest, as otherwise it was certain that he would make the worst possible report in order to get everything into his own hands. Hardly had he made a superficial inspection before he reported that Herr von Hartl was being cheated by Mistelbauer. As soon as he had driven the man and his family out of the house and had gained possession of the finished stock that was on hand, he took away everything that was in the hands of the local weavers, and transported it to Linz to be finished and sold.

Hardly had Herr von Hartl received the alarming news that only the highest degree of commercial talent could save the capital that he had invested in this business, before worse news came. While Grasnitzky was in Linz, fire started in Helmannsod and spread to Mistelbauer's house, which Grasnitzky had locked up. The peasants saved their own houses and were not at all displeased to let the handsome new building, with all its machinery and stock, burn down.

The hard blows were too much for poor Mistelbauer, who was now reduced to total beggary. He became ill and died soon afterward in great misery.

Nothing was left now except for Grasnitzky to finish the goods he had saved, and to sell them as well as possible.

Naturally the loss was considerable, despite all efforts; and of course it was an unfavorable circ.u.mstance for me that this affair should be contemporary with my failure to sell the sheet-music. Herr von Hartl lost all hope of success with stone-printing, and probably would have given it up entirely, had his secretary, Steiner, not advised him to continue. He pointed out that the small sales were due not to the printing, but to the unwise selection of work, which was almost wholly the composition of a composer quite unknown in Vienna. He said that they needed a man as manager who had the necessary knowledge and who also had a good shop for making sales, and that thus stone-printing would become a veritable gold mine. He proposed the antiquarian Grund, who had a shop in the same street as Herr von Hartl's house. Herr von Hartl agreed.

I was informed that hereafter I was to communicate only with Herr Grund about work, and that he would make all payments in Herr von Hartl's name, select the works to be published, and make quarterly accountings, at which he would deduct thirty per cent for himself.

I was glad, because it relieved me of many cares and I foresaw success once more. New life came into the work. We hired two more writers, and printed bravely. Grund succeeded in inducing Herr von Hartl to increase his investment during the first year so that the original capital of six thousand gulden that was already sunk in the work had grown to twenty thousand gulden. But when at last the fourth quarter pa.s.sed without an accounting from Grund, and still there was no dividend, he lost patience again, and no doubt Steiner had to bear some censure because of his unfortunate suggestion. To soothe his master he proposed to take everything out of Grund's hands and establish a publis.h.i.+ng house. As this would demand more capital, Herr von Hartl declined, being quite sated. Then Steiner came out with the project: he would seek to induce Grasnitzky, who had done so much already, to undertake this business also; he added that he himself was disposed to put in some capital and take a personal part in the business, for a third part of the profits.

Just then I was in fatal embarra.s.sment. The legal adviser of our landlady pressed harshly for payment. He even went to Herr von Hartl.

That gentleman sent for me immediately and declared that he would try Steiner's plan, and that it would be his last attempt, and that I could see myself that there was nothing else to do. Since he promised to pay my debt, and I hoped for good results anyway from Herr Steiner's cooperation, I agreed willingly.

Now pa.s.sed another year, during which a number of pieces of music were printed under Grasnitzky's and Steiner's directions, and some experiments made in art work. An artist, Karl Muller, learned to draw nicely on stone partly with the pen, partly with the brush. Among many, often very excellent efforts, one of his most successful was a copy of Preissler's drawing-lessons. The first number was printed under my direction and came out very well. The other numbers, which were printed when I was in Munich again, were reported as not having been so good.

The reason probably was that they were printed with a new press ordered by Herr Grasnitzky, which did not have the power necessary for printing from stone, thus making necessary a softer color not satisfactory for pen-drawing. In the end Herr Steiner is credited with having improved this press very much. I shall describe it in its most complete form in my description of presses which will follow.

Judging from the amount of printing done, Steiner and Grasnitzky appeared to understand their business. In a short time they actually printed a second impression of some of the Gleissner compositions, which met with good sales, especially in Poland.