During the three months before my journey to Offenbach I practiced my art busily, and especially studied to attain thoroughness in one branch that was of importance to Herr Schulrath Steiner. I have spoken already of his idea for pictures for children. As soon as I had invented the new chemical printing, I thought of inking an etched copper plate with a composition of tallow, soap, lampblack, and oil varnish, making an impression, laying this on stone, and putting it through the press. The picture transferred itself to the stone as I had expected. Then I poured the water and gum solution over it and inked it with the ink roller. The design took the color well; and thus, if the stone was very clean in the beginning and the proof from the copper had been made very carefully indeed, I could print several thousands of copies which resembled the original so closely that only a slightly greater degree of sharpness, clearness, and strength gave the copper etching an advantage over the stone impressions. At last I succeeded in perfecting the process so that actually my best impressions from the stone were better than those that had been made with less care from the original copper plate.
The main requisite in this process was that the ink be firm enough not to spread in printing, and still so greasy and tender that the very finest lines would come out. The copper plate had to be washed with extraordinary care, for the least bit of grease that should off-set on the white paper would, of course, transfer itself to the stone and make that part take color.
This latter circumstance was intensely difficult to overcome. It occurred to me to treat the copper plate chemically, like the stone, so that its surface would resist the ink. I succeeded, as, in future, I succeeded with other metals. The fundamental principle in each case remained the same. Only in the choice of materials for each metal was there a difference. I discovered soon that there are two kinds of preparations, one acid and one alkaline, for all solid bodies which have the property of taking and absorbing oil colors. The alkalines seemed to be best for use on copper plate, and I obtained such clean impressions that the stone did not take on even a vestige of ink in any spot except the design. At the same time I found that chemical printing does not limit itself to stone, but can be done on wood and metal, as well as on paper, as stated already. Yes, though apparently it is incredible—even fats, such as wax, shellac, resin, etc., can acquire the attribute, under certain circumstances, of resisting color, and, therefore, are available for chemical printing. This fact gave me hopes of discovering a sort of artificial stone some day, which might be less costly, less massive, and less fragile; and, as a matter of fact, I succeeded in inventing an artificial stone-paper in 1813, a stony mass that is smeared on paper or linen and looks somewhat like parchment.
Since the illustrations on etched copper plates were so readily transferable to the stone, Herr Schulrath Steiner could now let the best masters etch his pictures. The sales of the original impressions as works of art always covered the costs. He paid me five gulden for each transfer that I made from the copper to stone. For this extremely small sum he obtained a stone plate from which there could be made countless impressions, which, although not so fine as those from the copper, answered his purpose of circulating good pictures by making them extremely cheap. Lively prosecution of this process was prevented only by the delays of copper etchers, so that we were able to utilize it only five times on a large scale before I had to leave Munich.
Herr Gleissner, who wished to visit a friend in Frankfurt, accompanied me on my way to Offenbach. I started at once on the new work and within fourteen days I pulled the first proof on Herr Andre's own press. He was so well satisfied, and, besides, had so thoroughly considered the advantages of stone-printing, that he proposed to me to leave Munich entirely and, with him as associate, extend the art in the best possible way. He had three brothers, none of whom was engaged in a fixed occupation. He intended to bring these into the partnership. Two were in London, the youngest and the eldest. The latter was to return soon. One brother had lived long in Paris, and was well acquainted with that city as well as with French affairs. So he laid out the following plan. We would try to obtain exclusive franchises in Paris, London, Berlin, and Vienna. Then a stone-printery and art publication house was to be opened in each city. His brothers should manage affairs, one each in London, Paris, and Berlin, while I was to take the management in Vienna. Offenbach and Frankfurt would remain under Herr Andre's management and be the centre of control and union.
The plan seemed to be easy to realize, as there was no lack of means. I could look for one fifth of the profits which would be earned by the combined, very considerable capital of the Andre family. In addition, Herr Andre possessed all the requisite knowledge and owned a great business already. Therefore I agreed gladly, after making the condition that Herr Gleissner was to remain a partner of mine and receive a decent remuneration till the business was in working order.
Herr Andre was well content, for Herr Gleissner could be used as compositor, corrector, and writer in the business, which was to consist largely of music publication in the beginning.
Herr Gleissner and I returned to Munich to arrange our affairs there. He intended to ask for three years' leave of absence. I planned, in order to save Herr Steiner any embarrassment, and also to maintain our privilege in Bavaria, since one could not tell how the Andre undertaking might turn out, to so arrange that our work could be printed properly during our absence, whether done by the Schul-fond, the Government, or private persons. It gratified me also to have an opportunity to satisfy my mother's wishes in regard to my brothers; and I gave my brothers, Theobald and George, my press, my stones, and everything else that was on hand, also the two trained apprentices, and only stipulated for myself that I should have one fourth of the net profits, leaving the accounting entirely to their sense of honor. They promised to keep accurate books and work steadily and economically, and they received from me minute instructions about transferring from the copper for Herr Steiner. I taught them also how to handle the crayon process, which promised an early harvest.
As soon as all was done I went to Offenbach with the whole Gleissner family. A good quantity of stones had arrived there, and a few men, previously trained, had been practicing in transcribing music. We were able to begin on a large scale at once. Herr Andre had ten copper- and zinc-plate presses at work. He stopped five and used the workmen for stone-printing. He went to London, partly for business, partly to get his youngest brother and to inform himself thoroughly about the procedure necessary to obtain English patents.
One of our chief speculations in England was to be the application of stone-printing to cotton. Once, when Herr Steiner conceived the idea of illuminating pictures with stencils in the way used by card-makers, I had made many experiments in that line. I cut out the parts to be colored in oil-soaked paper, laid this on the picture, and passed a roller over it with the desired color. The color was more even than with a brush, but not everything could be cut out, because the stencils had to have the necessary connection. Therefore I needed two stencils for every color shade. Again, these thin stencils easily slipped out of place, a defect that displeased me. Now, it happened that at times when I was a little careless, the whole stencil would roll itself up on the ink-roller. I found that it was possible to work even more surely when this happened, provided one found the exact beginning of the stencil and applied it minutely. But it was not possible to make more than twelve impressions. Then the stencil had to be taken from the roller that the latter might be inked again.