ALOIS SENEFELDER (1771-1834)

Lithography, or writing on stone, was invented by Senefelder, a Bavarian, at the end of the eighteenth century, but it was twenty years before he published this description of it. Senefelder's treatise was first published in Munich and Vienna in 1818 with the title Vollstandiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckery; within a year translations were published in England and France. The work is divided into two parts: the first is a history of the invention and its different processes, while the second provides practical instructions for its application.

England was the first country outside of Germany to have a lithographic press. Rudolph Ackermann, a well-known publisher of aquatint books who issued this first English edition of Senefelder's treatise was, along with artist Charles Hullmandel, largely responsible for bringing lithography to the attention of the English public.