They deterred other printers from giving orders for the
machines; and Koenig and Bauer were under the necessity of
suspending their manufacture to a considerable extent. To keep
their men employed, the partners proceeded to fit up a paper
manufactory, Mr. Cotta, of Stuttgart, joining them in the
adventure; and a mill was fitted up, embodying all the latest
improvements in paper-making.
Koenig, however, did not live to enjoy the fruits or all his
study, labour, toil, and anxiety; for, while this enterprise was
still in progress, and before the machine trade had revived, he
was taken ill, and confined to bed. He became sleepless; his
nerves were unstrung; and no wonder. Brain disease carried him
off on the 17th of January, 1833; and this good, ingenious, and
admirable inventor was removed from all further care and trouble.
He died at the early age of fifty-eight, respected and beloved by
all who knew him.
His partner Bauer survived to continue the business for twenty
years longer. It was during this later period that the Oberzell
manufactory enjoyed its greatest prosperity. The prejudices of
the workmen gradually subsided when they found that machine
printing, instead of abridging employment, as they feared it
would do, enormously increased it; and orders accordingly flowed
in from Berlin, Vienna, and all the leading towns and cities of
Germany, Austria, Denmark, Russia, and Sweden.
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