I can say for the honor of this man, and especially his wife, that, despite all their losses and despite the warnings and inciting of their friends and relatives, they remained unshaken, and by making all kinds of sacrifices they enabled me to win at last. On my part they saw faithful and eager will, and a restless endeavor that went so far that I hardly took any time for eating or sleeping, but thought only of improving my art.
Now, however, our condition was changed at once. Many days we earned as much as ten to twelve gulden; and at the same time we received an exclusive franchise for fifteen years through the favor of King Maximilian Joseph, who began his glorious reign then. This privilege gave us the right to print and sell exclusively in all of Bavaria, while infringers were liable to a fine of one hundred gulden and confiscation of all stock and apparatus.
We were determined to do our utmost, to work day and night, to establish an honorable reputation for our printery at last, though we foresaw many obstacles, owing to the entire lack of assistance. Already I had half-determined to contract with the Schul-fond, permitting it to establish a lithographic press for its own use, when an accidental circumstance gave our whole undertaking a new direction.
Depending on the protection given to us by our franchise, we were making no further secret of any part of our process. We were quite content with having the monopoly in Bavaria, and cared little that other printeries might arise in other countries. Indeed, this expectation flattered my vanity as inventor, and I thought that in time I might make commercial connections with such establishments. For this reason I was very hospitable toward every stranger who came to visit us. I hoped that perhaps I might induce some such visitor to participate in our undertaking, and therefore I exhibited all the advantages of the process and permitted them to see the manipulations with their own eyes.
Just then Herr Andre of Offenbach visited Munich on business. He read about the grant of our franchise and asked his friend Falter about the process. That gentleman showed him some sheets of music printed by us and offered to introduce him to our printery, where, as technical expert, he could decide for himself as to the value or worthlessness of the new art.
Herr Andre, who possessed an extensive musical publishing institution and owned a large zinc-plate printing-plant, was delighted with the beauty of our print, and was especially impressed by the fact that the color did not off-set when rubbed with the hand, as was the case with zinc printing. He accepted Herr Falter's offer at once and was introduced as a merchant. The attention with which he noted even the slightest operations led me to conclude at once that this man had some especial interest in printing. I took particular pains to display the whole process to the best advantage.
Several plates that were already inscribed were etched and printed with beautiful results. The speed (seventy-five sheets in a quarter-hour, two being printed simultaneously each time), the quickness of drying, the economy in color, were things that increased his interest to a high pitch. He told who he was and proposed to me that I teach him the entire art for an adequate remuneration. I accepted at once and agreed to go to Offenbach within a few months, erect a press, and train men in all branches of the process. For this he promised me the sum of two thousand gulden, of which he paid down three hundred gulden on the spot.
This change from poverty to comfort made me happy mainly on Herr Gleissner's account. We could furnish our printery properly now and pay our old debts. We were assured, also, of enough work to permit enlargement of the establishment in future. What was there left to wish?
In the very beginning, however, the behavior of my own family gave me great displeasure. My mother demanded that I share my profit with my brothers, as they had a better right than Herr Gleissner and his family. I could not quite see this; therefore my mother ordered a press for my brothers and bought the necessary stones. They went to Herr Falter and asked him for his work, representing that I had made my fortune through Herr Andre, whereas they were unprovided for. They offered at the same time to furnish each plate for thirty kreuzer less than I charged. Herr Falter permitted himself to be convinced, and when Madame Gleissner discovered it she was intensely angry, and did not rest till the Government ordered my brothers to refrain from utilizing the process in Bavaria for their own account.
My brothers went to Augsburg to erect a stone-press for Herr Gombart. They must have been unequal to the attempt or there must have been other difficulties: in brief, I know only that, after Herr Gombart had incurred many useless expenses, he discarded printing from stone.