Print of the Month - January 2018
This print was used as the frontispiece to the book called Gutta Percha, its discovery, history and manifold uses, published by Benjamin L. Green, 62 Paternoster Row, London in 1851.
The book has only 48 pages and contains many woodcuts.
It is a very rare and early account of Gutta Percha which had only been brought to Europe and America a few years earlier.
This book can only be found in a handful of libraries worldwide and the Harvard University copy is available to view online at
Hathi Trust Digital Library.
Being published in 1851, a little more than a year after Le Blond & Co took up a licence to use George Baxter’s patent process in November 1849, this is one of the early prints produced by Le Blond using the process.
Underneath the print on the left in the margin is “Printed in oil colours by Le Blond & Co.” in one line, and on the right in one line is “Licencees, London.”
Size 5 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches.