Essai Historique sur La Lithographie, renfermant, 1. L'histoire de cette découverte; 2. Une Notice bibliographique des ouvrages qui ont paru sur la Lithographie; 3. Une Notice chronologique des différens genres de gravures qui ont plus ou moins de rapport avec la Lithographie

First and only edition, printed in an edition of 250 copies only and published by the noted bibliophile and collector A. A. Renouard.  Peignot's pioneering study on the origins of lithography and its development, with a bibliography of works printed with the lithographic process.  In his book, Early Lithographic Books, Michael Twyman writes, "His  Essai historique sur la lithographie was published in Paris as early as 1819 and was the first monograph on the history of the subject."

Peignot discusses the origins of lithography and much like his work on early French printing, he offers strong opinions about who in France was the first to bring the process to the country.  He also writes about the establishment of the process in Germany, Italy, England, and lists titles that were produced by the printers.

This work is typical of the methods used by printing historians in the 19th century which tried to establish precedence and separate the myth, usually nationalistic, from the facts of the invention.  Peignot the heir of DeBure, was considered the most important French bibliographer before the work of Brunet.  His essays are still highly collected and his understanding of the field of rare books renown.   Bigmore & Wyman list a dozen of Peignot's works in their Bibliography of Printing.  The Library of Congress lists 55 titles by Peignot but not this work on the origins of lithography.

Considered a rare book in the market, NUC and OCLC cite eight copies in American libraries.  Apparently not in the Library of Congress.