Works created in the first years of a new printing technique are known as incunabula. The word derives from the Latin “incunabula”, meaning swaddling clothes or cradle. It refers to first works and pioneering pieces.
On the one hand, they stand for what is new and revolutionary. The limits of earlier techniques were overcome and new possibilities opened up. On the other hand, the new technique was still in its infancy.
The cradle prints of lithography are generally considered to be the sheets produced in the first twenty years, up to around 1820. Franz Anton Niedermayr was involved from the very beginning.
From the outset, there was close cooperation between Franz Anton Niedermayr and publishers, artists, writers and scholars in Regensburg.
Only a very small proportion of the works printed in those early years has survived.
On the one hand, they stand for what is new and revolutionary. The limits of earlier techniques were overcome and new possibilities opened up. On the other hand, the new technique was still in its infancy.
The cradle prints of lithography are generally considered to be the sheets produced in the first twenty years, up to around 1820. Franz Anton Niedermayr was involved from the very beginning.
From the outset, there was close cooperation between Franz Anton Niedermayr and publishers, artists, writers and scholars in Regensburg.
Only a very small proportion of the works printed in those early years has survived.


