Print: Le Blond printed these four designs as LB 17 – 20, being The New Houses of Parliament, Her Majesty opening Parliament, Her Majesty at Windsor, HRH Prince Albert in St James Park by the Baxter process in the early 1850’s.
 
This sheet shows the four designs in triplicate, so twelve prints in all, and are printed by chromolithography. Presumably this sheet was prepared so that more prints could be produced at the same time. The prints have been slightly reduced from their Baxter process versions presumably to allow 12 prints to get onto the one sheet but there are gutters between the prints so perhaps the reduction in size is for another reason.
 
They all have a blue decorative border unlike anything else we have seen from Le Blond which infer they have been prepared for some specific purpose.
 
The individual prints are not rare and have confused Baxter collectors for many years, occasionally they would be found with the blue border. It is only now we can see where these prints have come from. A full uncut sheet is a rare find and only recently discovered.
 
I can’t say exactly when they were printed as Le Blond was using Chromolithography by at least 1868 and would become his only printing method in the later years of his business but feel, looking at the images i.e. the young Queen, that it was earlier rather than later
 
Date: 1850’s – 1880’s
 
Size (cm ht x w): 6.5 x 11.4 (each image plus coloured border) 44.8 x 29 (full sheet)
 
State: Full sheet as taken from the press including coloured registration dots to align the colours on the press
 
Condition: Excellent colours, a 4 cm tear to top right print, and a small one in right hand border both now repaired with acid free tape. Crease to bottom right corner