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 Helmannsöd 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 assisted 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 Helmannsöd, 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 assurances, 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 Passau. 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 passed, and in order to keep the force busy, Herr Gleissner composed continually and printed his work. Nearly a whole year passed 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 analyze 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, wishing 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 assistance 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.