(Johann) Alois Senefelder (1771-1834), Austrian inventor, with books and other printed material. Senefelder is famous for the invention in 1796 of the printing method of lithography. This was an improvement on the chemical etching that was then used to form a template for printing. His method used the fact that grease (wax) and water don't mix, producing a chemical template where the ink only sticks to a grease-sensitive area. This inked template is used to print the document. Senefelder published an 1818 book on this lithographic method. This is a portrait by Lorenz Quaglio. Lithograph published in 1818 in Munich, Germany.