Koenig and Bauer Remind Visitors to the Great Exhibition that They Invented the First Printing Machines

For the Great Exhibition Koenig und Bauer had Brockhaus publish a 16-page pamphlet in German and English entitled Die Ersten Druckmaschinen. The First Printing Machines. Constructed in London up to the Year 1818 by Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer. The imprint of the pamphlet stated that it was printed by Brockhaus on a Schellpresse (high speed press) manufactured by Koenig und Bauer, who were then manufacturing printing machines in Oberzell, Germany. The purpose of this very detailed bilingual exposition of Koenig's first printing machines was to remind those attending the exhibition of the great contributions to printing technology made by Koenig and Bauer--contributions which were by this time overshadowed by developments made since 1818 by Englishmen including Cowper, Applegath, and Napier.

The pamphlet reproduced drawings and details from Koenig's original English patents--the first patents on printing machines. This would have been especially useful to those who might have wanted to read the original patents at the time, since Koenig's patents were not officially printed until the late 1850s.