Print of the Month - May 2020

Printed and published by Joseph Mansell using George Baxter's patented Baxter Process.

Size 15 x 12 cm approx. The Print is unsigned. It is number 13 in the New Baxter Society's catalogue of Joseph Mansell's Baxter Process Prints.

This is one of a series of six "Cries of London" prints produced by Mansell in the 1850s. The "Cries of London" were very popular subjects, printed by many printmakers over several centuries. One of the best known series is that of Francis Wheatley who exhibited 14 paintings of the "Cries of London" at the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1795. These prints provide a record of the characters who plied their trade on the streets of London.

The firm of Joseph Mansell were colour printers from the 1850s until the 1890s and are best known for their greetings cards and their embossed fancy stationery goods.

Most of their colour printing was produced using chromolithography but their Baxter Process printing was often used as decoration on their fancy Valentine and School Reward cards.