LITHOGRAPHY.
115
own countryman Klopstock , where he says, “ Covered with“ eternal darkness are the great names of inventors.”
This work has been recently translated into our tongue,and published with the following title. “ A complete Course“ of Lithography, containing clear and explicit Insfruc-“ tions in all the different branches and manners of that Art;
“ accompanied by illustrative Specimens of Drawings: to“ which is prefixed, a History of Lithography,from its Origin“ to the present Time: by Aloys Senelfklder, Inventor“ of the Art of Lithography, or Chymical Printing: with a“ Preface by Frederic von Sciilichthegroll, Director“ of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich .— Translated“ from the original German, by A. S.”
The author of the preface, and friend of the inventor,states that it is an art, whereby the artist, a minister, a manof letters, or a merchant, &c. may multiply his productionsat will without the intervention of a second person.
After a neat and brief historical preface by Mr. Schlich-thegroll, the author of the invention and of the work proceedsto give in detail his motives for the original invention;—inwhich he has not only been strictly circumstantial, but no moreso than the curiosity of the public requires, which is alwaysexcited in a degree proportionate to the confessed utility ofa work, or that demand which its elegance has upon culti-vated and delicate feeling. His labours may be said to bedivided naturally into two parts, of which division the authorhas availed himself; 1st, adducing its history; and, 2dly,affording the operation of its process.
Its history appears to have arisen with its origin; andboth to have taken their data from the often recognised motivefurnished us by Diodorus Siculus, —and to have originatedin the necessities of the author. From whence, it appears,that after he had received a scholastic education to qualifyhim for the profession of the jurisprudence of his country,the death of his father, who was a votary of the Thespianart, deprived him, his son, of those resources essential toenable him to pursue his intended honourable avocation;he was, consequently,- driven to seek support from theprevious acquisitions of his mind. He accordingly devotedhis earnest attention to solicit the favours of the dramaticmuse as an author: after encountering numberless difficul-ties he produced one play, which was printed, and its salesucceeded tolerably well. But the honourable independenceof his mind induced him to reflect upon the certainty of the*large expense which necessarily attends the practice of anauthor, who has not liberal patrons in the public, or the
I 2