216 On the Origin and Practice of Lithography, 



sess of retaining lines drawn with an oily ink, and of transferring 

 them in all their strength and purity to paper, applied with a 

 strong pressure upon their superficies. In 1800 he ohtained 

 from the King of Bavaria a patent, securing to him the exclusive 

 benefit of his discovery for the space of three years ; and in con- 

 cert with a Baron d'Aretin he formed at Munich a lichographic 

 establishment, which still exists. 



D'Aretin afterwards joined with a M. Manlich in forming a 

 new establishment, more calculated to accelerate the progress of 

 the art ; and among other works which it has produced, it has 

 just occasion to boast of an excellent collection of copies from 

 the great masters which adorns the cabinet of the King of Ba- 

 varia. 



Count Lasteyrie, a French nobleman, struck with the advan- 

 tages of this invention, made several journeys to Municli, in order 

 to instruct himself in it ; and afterwards attem])ted, but without 

 success, to establish the art in Paris. The Count is said to have 

 composed a treatise containing the whole details of the process ; 

 and it will be unfortunate, since that process is still involved in 

 some mystery, should this treatise not be made public. 



The difficulties which opposed the attempt of Count Lasteyrie 

 in the capital did not, however, prevent the establishment of the 

 art in a remoter part of France, At Mulhausen on the confines, 

 a M. Engelmann afterwards introduced and cultivated it with 

 great success ; and very recently he has transmitted to the So- 

 ciety of Encoi'.ragement at Paris a number of lithographic spe- 

 cimens, which have excited a great deal of attention in the ad- 

 mirers of the fine arts. 



Some of these specimens are in crayon ; others have been ex- 

 ecuted with a pea or pencil ; and there are also some done in the 

 manner of wood-cuts. Tlie wliole of them are remarkable for 

 great delicacy of touch, and the mellow impression which they 

 make on the eye ; though it may be observed that in those which 

 are in the manner of wood-cuts, the light and sliade are less har- 

 moniously blended than in the others executed with a crayon or 

 pencil. 



The whole details of the mode of execution are not revealed ; 

 but enough is knovv'U to enable a general idea to be formed of 

 the process. 



Altliough similar to engraving, lithography is yet something 

 very different. It resembles engraving in no other respect than 

 in as far as it is an art of multiplying indefinitely the same de- 

 sign. It has the advantage over engraving, of producing not 

 copies of designs, but the designs themselves — the original 

 works of the designer repeated as often as impressions of 

 them can be taken. Lithography then may be regarded as the 



art 



