Price Guide to Baxter Prints

Prior to the method of printing devised by George Baxter in the 1830s, the main method illustrating in colour was by hand, using watercolours, a method which was not always very successful.

By means of superbly made wood blocks, all carrying different tints and in perfect register, together with oil based colours, Baxter produced coloured prints of the highest quality. This comprehensive book, the first to be written since the 1930s on Baxter prints, shows for the first time virtually all known prints with the exception of some minor book illustrations.

A glance through the illustrations shows that Baxter was a faithful chronicler of early Victorian life as well as an artist craftsman of an extraordinarily high ability. His prints are an ideal subject for the collector and, as interest has only recently been reawakened in Baxter prints, prices are in many cases still very modest.

George Baxter's constant search for technical improvement in his art and his insistence on quality at all costs led him into constant financial difficulties. He borrowed heavily from his family and in 1865 was adjudged bankrupt. He died as a result of an omnibus accident in 1867.

Baxter had imitators, and after his death Le Blond, in particular, carried on his method of printing. Baxter's works remain as outstanding examples of craftsmanship which it is a joy to own.