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| Her Majesty & Prince Albert at Balmoral 1833 |
1804 - 1867
George Baxter, son of a publisher and bookseller, was born in Lewes, Sussex, 31 July 1804. He worked in his father’s business learning the trade of printing in woodcuts. At the time, virtually all coloured prints were hand-coloured; a slow and laborious task.
1827 – Married Mary Harrild, daughter of Robert Harrild, a manufacturer of printing machinery. Robert was to assist his son-in-law many times both financially and with loans and gifts of equipment.
1828 – Baxter produced his first colour print – Butterflies. Very few copies exist.
1834 – Baxter’s next print was frontispiece to Mudie’s British Birds.
1835 – Applied for his patent for his newly developed colour printing process. This involved an initial printing from a steel key plate to give the black outline and all of the intricate detail and shading. Baxter would then apply up to 20 different blocks made from wood, copper or zinc – one for each separate colour that he wanted to apply. Before the key plate was applied the paper would first be wetted. The resulting inked image was then left to dry. Before the next colour could be added, the paper had to be dampened once again, so that it expanded to exactly the same size as when the key image was initially printed. This process was repeated for every individual colour used. At the very end of the process, a final gloss finish was applied. Each block had to be perfectly aligned and the presses were operated by hand, making this a very painstaking process. It is incredible that over 100,000 of some prints are reputed to have been issued in this manner. Baxter’s keyplate innovation made all the difference, and gave his images a ‘sharpness’ never before achieved. What also distinguished Baxter was his perfectionism. He personally spent many hours engraving his own plates, he would only use the best materials and he mixed his own oil inks. Most of Baxter’s early work was for book illustrations, including Mudie’s natural history books, poetry books and a number of works for the missionary societies.
He later realised that there was a market for his prints, sold separately from books, ads works of art for the masses. His work caught the attention of Prince Albert, and he was personally invited to attend and draw the coronation of Queen Victoria. He also attended the christening of the Prince of Wales, which was drawn by Baxter ‘on the spot’. The resulting watercolour was exhibited at the Royal Academy. He went on to illustrate many other of the historic events and scenes of the age. Baxter received an honourable mention for printing at the Great Exhibition and later received gold medals from the Emperor of Austria (1852), at the New York Exhibition (1853), The Paris Exhibition (1855), and from the King of Sweden (1857). Despite this success, Baxter had little business acumen. His aim for perfection made him slow and often late with deliveries. His Interior of the Great Exhibition was published the day after the exhibition closed. This lack of commercial ability led to his eventual bankruptcy in January 1865.
November 1866 – Baxter involved in an accident with a horse drawn carriage and died in January 1867 from his injuries.
August 1868 – G Baxter Jr negotiated the sale of his father’s plates, blocks and presses to Abraham Le Blond of Le Blond & Co for £300. The prints issued by Le Blond & Co from this time up until the 1870s, when the Baxter process was superseded by Lithography, are known as Le Blond Baxters.