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THE LE BLOND OVALS
Abraham Le Blond of Le Blond & Co. became
the first Baxter licensee in 1849. From 1850 until about 1867 the firm
produced large quantities of prints using the Baxter Process. They also
produced many small prints which were used for pocketbook illustrations.
Le Blond produced just over 100 prints using the Baxter Process as well
as some reproductions of Baxter's originals which have become known as
'Le Blond-Baxters'. In 1868, a year after George Baxter’s death,
Le Blond acquired 66 sets of Baxter's original plates and blocks and republished
those subjects. These Le Blond-Baxters were more cheaply produced than
the original Baxters and generally are not of such high quality. Abraham
Le Blond is best known, however, for his set of 32 oval prints which are
of an extremely high quality.
These 4 prints are part of a charming set
of thirty-two pictures, all of the same size, produced by Le Blond &
Co. The prints were not cut out and placed on a mount, but were printed
directly on to the mount. They present a nostalgic picture of rural village
life in England in the early part of the nineteenth century. Nearly every
one of them shows us some pet of the house - feline, canine, or human.
There is no acknowledgment of them being taken from any artists' pictures.
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