1818 Astronomer, Vernet (b1758), Engelmann, incunable of lithography, folio

An astronomer used to walk out every night to gaze upon the stars. It happened one night that, with his whole thoughts rapt up in the skies, he fell into a well. One who heard his cries ran up to him and said, “While you are trying to pry into the mysteries of heaven, you overlook the common objects under your feet.”

We should never look so high as to miss seeing the things that are around us.

Antoine Charles Horace Vernet aka. Carle Vernet (14 August 1758 – 17 November 1836) was a French painter, the youngest child of Claude Joseph Vernet, and the father of Horace Vernet.

Issued in the series Fables of Fontaine (1818). 

FROM THE FIRST BOOK IN FRANCE TO USE LITHOGRAPHY FOR ITS ILLUSTRATION.

Lithographs in crayon manier by G. Engelmann.

Engelmann is largely credited with bringing lithography to France, and later, commercializing chromolithography.