PHILADELPHIA.
J. L. Faber
geb. 12 Juni 1817.
THE
LEAD PENCIL MANUFACTORY
OF
A. W. FABER
AT
STEIN NEAR NÜRNBERG.
BAVARIA.
An historical sketch,
in commemoration of the Jubilee celebrated in the year 1861 to mark the completion of the first Century of the existence of the Establishment, dedicated by the Proprietor to his Patrons and Business friends.
Nürnberg. Printed by U. E. Sebald.
The lead pencil, as everyone knows, is an invention of modern times, and may unhesitatingly be placed side by side with the numerous improvements and inventions, by means of which the last three centuries in particular have so largely contributed towards the spread of Arts and Sciences and the facilitation of Study and Communication. To the classic ages and their art the pencil and in general every application of lead as a writing material was entirely unknown and it was first in the middle ages, as we hear, that lead was employed for this purpose. This metal however was by no means the same sort of thing as the black lead of our pencils, which are indeed only mentioned in conjunction of lead on account of the writing produced by them bearing some resemblance to lead. Besides which lead was then only used for ruling lines and in no instance for writing or drawing purposes. This leadruler was in form a sharpedged disc, such as is said to have been used for the same purpose even in the later periods of the classic ages.
With the developement and growth of modern painting the traces of pencil-like drawings first begin to manifest themselves. The masters of the fourteenth century, especially van Eyck, and of the fifteenth, such as Memlink and others, appear to be the first who mention works of art executed with a pencil-like instrument upon chalked paper. They are generally designated as drawings in silver-style, this specification however not being capable of any closer confirmation, though this much is certain that the use of pure silver is not intended to be implied. In like manner it is reported of the Italian artists of the latter part of the middle ages, that they drew with a silver-style upon smooth deal covered with the dust of calcined bones, which process appears however only to have met with very partial success.