Lithography is the art of printing from stone, which claims for its author Aloys Senelfelder, a native of Munich, in the kingdom of Bavaria. The history of this useful art is recorded by the only person capable of assigning proper and correct motives, and of tracing the various means which were employed to arrive at the desired end, to ultimate success: had all other useful inventions, profitable and elegant arts, had the good fortune which this has happily experienced, we should not have had so much cause to regret deficiencies as we have frequently experienced in the course of our inquiries; then would the various illustrious authors of arts have had justice rendered to them, and still have remained possessed of that glorious immortality so justly the reward of transcendant merit; for the history of this meritorious invention is given by the author himself, thereby securing to it those advantages, which the erudite author of the preface congratulates the public upon, when in his concise epistle he uses that beautiful expression of his countryman, Klopstock, where he says, “Covered with eternal darkness are the great names of inventors.”

This work has been translated into English, and published with the following title:—“A complete Course of Lithography, containing clear and explicit Instructions in all the different branches and manners of the Art; accompanied by Illustrative Specimens of Drawings; to which is prefixed a History of Lithography, from its Origin, by Aloys Senefelder, Inventor of the Art of Lithography, or Chymical Printing,” &c.

The author of the preface to this work, and friend of the inventor, states that this is an art, whereby the artist, a minister, a man of letters, or a merchant, &c., may multiply his productions at will, without the assistance of a second person.

The author of the above work proceeds to give in detail his motives for the original invention, in which he has not only been strictly circumstantial, but no more so than the curiosity of the public requires, which is always excited in a degree proportioned to the confessed utility of a work, or that demand which its elegance has upon cultivated and delicate feeling. His labours may be said to be divided naturally into two parts, of which division the author has availed himself; first, adducing its history, and secondly, affording the operation of its process.

Its history appears to have arisen with its origin; and both to have originated in the necessities of the author. From whence it appears, that after he had received a scholastic education to qualify him for the jurisprudence of his country, the death of his father, who was a votary of the Thespian art, deprived him of those resources essential to enable him to pursue his intended honourable vocation; he was consequently driven to seek support from the previous acquisitions of his mind. He accordingly devoted his earnest attention to solicit the favours of the dramatic muse as an author. After encountering numberless difficulties, he produced one play, which was published, and sold considerably well. But the honourable independence of his mind induced him to reflect upon the certainty of the large expense, which necessarily attends the practice of an author, who has not liberal patrons in the public or the trade; and the uncertainty of adequate remuneration from the public, for whose amusement they make such large sacrifices of time, ease, property, health, and often life itself. These reflections induced his ardent and ingenious mind to endeavour to avoid the uncertainty of this contingency. He did not possess property to enable him to establish himself as a printer, which was his desire; he was therefore compelled to have recourse to his own ingenuity. He tried various, and at first, unsuccessful experiments, which he ingeniously details; because, he considered, that nearly as much is learned from the failures of an artist, had he always the honesty to publish them, as is gained from his most successful discoveries.

Various were the materials upon which he first essayed to complete his purposes; till, at length, chance directed him to try what could be effected upon stone. For this purpose, he used a species found in Germany, of a beautifully close grained and dense kind, susceptible of receiving a fine polish, called Kellheim stone. Knowing the failures which his countrymen had experienced in endeavouring to fix the ink in this stone for etching, he had recourse to a chemical experiment to obviate this, which succeeded in the following manner:—To four or five parts of water, he added one of rectified vitriol, which instantly produced an effervescence, on being poured upon it; the stone was instantly covered with a coat of gypsum, which to vitriol is impenetrable; this is easily wiped off, and the stone being dried, it is ready for use. The next want he found, was a species of ink, proper to answer the peculiar purposes of the material whereon he had to operate; for which he discovered none so well adapted as the following mixture:—A composition of three parts of wax, with one of yellow soap, is melted over a fire, and mixed with a small portion of lamp-black, dissolved in rain-water. But this is now greatly simplified, as the lithographic printers generally use the same ink as the copperplate printers.

The process of lithography is very simple. The article wanted to be printed is written or drawn upon a piece of transfer paper, which being wet and laid on the stone, and put through the press, the writing or drawing remains on the stone, and any number of impressions may be taken off. Care must be taken, before inking, to come over the stone with a damp sponge, to prevent the ink adhering to the places not wanted, which it would otherwise do.

We understand the Bath and Portland stone is successfully used; but the best yet found in Britain, for the purpose, is what is known by the name of lias, raised near Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire; it is a calcareous and partly siliceous stone, and we think not destitute of magnesia, having, when, polished, a very silky and somewhat saponaceous feel.

This art has flourished to a greater extent than we believe the most sanguine expectations of its inventor could have anticipated. Many beautiful specimens of art have been produced equal to the finest copper-plate engravings. It is excellently adapted for drawing of plans, bill-heads, circulars, cards, and many other light articles, which used formerly to be printed by means of letter-press; and on account of the numerous ornaments so easily applied to the lithographic process, the most of these, and similar articles, are principally lithographed, to the detriment, we would conceive, of the letter-press and copper-plate printers.