{"id":10168,"date":"2026-10-09T09:54:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T14:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/?p=10168"},"modified":"2026-10-09T10:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:11:53","slug":"the-leblond-chapter-from-c-t-courtney-lewiss-the-story-of-picture-printing-in-england-during-the-nineteenth-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/the-leblond-chapter-from-c-t-courtney-lewiss-the-story-of-picture-printing-in-england-during-the-nineteenth-century\/","title":{"rendered":"The LeBlond Chapter from C. T. Courtney Lewis’s “The Story of Picture Printing in England during the Nineteenth Century”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 17 of The Story of Picture Printing in England during the Nineteenth Century<\/em> by C.T. Courtney Lewis reveals significant information about my third great grandfather, Robert LeBlond (1816-1863), the elder brother of the printing and engraving partnership with Abraham LeBlond. Robert was founding member of the London Secular Society and invited members to visit his 3,000 volume library. He was a Freethinker and spoke in favor of secularism in government. Unfortunately, while busying himself with these activities, he neglected his business and finances which resulted in his library being seized for debt. Abraham, meanwhile, the steadier of the two, continued on with the business after his brother departed for America.<\/p>\n

[Source: C. T. Courtney Lewis, The Story of Picture Printing in England during the Nineteenth Century; or, Forty Years of Wood and Stone (London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1928), Chapter XVII, pp. 209-220. Line-end hyphenation has been removed. Original wording and spelling are otherwise retained.]<\/div>\n

Chapter Seventeen, Le Blond & Co. (Baxter Licencees)<\/h2>\n

A Biography<\/h3>\n

Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it.\u201d\u2014Dr. Johnson.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If in considering the career and work of the six licencees of Baxter a discerning person gave pride of place to Le Blond & Co., it would not be without good reason, for not only were they the first in point of date to secure a licence, but they were the closest imitators and most faithful followers of the master printer, and in other respects they would appear, as we shall presently show, to be entitled to the premier position.<\/p>\n

They were, however, it must be said in no sense book illustrators, for except for pocket books, one solitary volume constituted, as far as is known, their total output in that direction.<\/p>\n

It was in the autumn of the year 1849, that they obtained their licence.<\/p>\n

Assuming, as Baxter announced, his willingness to do, they received instruction from him with the licence, they yet had the astuteness to realize where they could gain more information, so they secured the services of Baxter\u2019s capable manager, Mr. Sidney H. Wright.<\/p>\n

Their productions by the process during the greater part, if not the whole, of their working career were under the guidance of this gentleman who, perhaps next to the patentee himself, knew more at that time than any other person then living, his secrets and methods.<\/p>\n

As far as can be ascertained he entered the service of Le Blond & Co. in 1849.<\/p>\n

Not only for the best part of twenty years did Le Blond & Co. then publish designs of their own by the process, including the well-known \u201cOvals,\u201d but they, in the year 1868, purchased a large quantity of Baxter\u2019s plates and blocks from Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, and reprinted from them. These productions are known to-day as \u201cLe Blond-Baxter\u201d prints, and are fully described on page 298.<\/p>\n

Further, we have more detailed and accurate information of the total work they did under their licence than we can glean of any other of the licencees.<\/p>\n

They were more precise and methodical and they gave their prints a serial number, and partly from this fact, and partly from their own list of \u201cLe Blond & Co.\u2019s Patent Oil Pictures,\u201d published in 1868, which is extant, it has been possible to construct what is almost certainly a complete and accurate catalogue of all their publications by Baxter\u2019s process with their serial numbers.<\/p>\n

This list is set out as to parts one and two on pages from 300 to 303.<\/p>\n

Part one on page 300 has had to be constructed from the various numbers given to their early prints, for no authentic list of them published by them is known.<\/p>\n

Part two on page 301 is taken from their published list.<\/p>\n

Part three, which will be found on page 303, is a list constructed of the few designs they published without a serial number, and<\/p>\n

Part four, which will be found from page 304 to 306, is also taken from their own published list.<\/p>\n

No such reliable list can be constructed of the work of any other licencee, as none of them left behind the material from which it can be done.<\/p>\n

And, finally, nearly the whole of their subjects are consistently good and careful work, and are on some form of special or stamped mount which so much adds to the pleasure of the collector.<\/p>\n

As licencees of Baxter they certainly take a very prominent position.<\/p>\n

Now let us just consider a little the history of the firm of Le Blond & Co., and of the two partners who constituted it.<\/p>\n

It was established some time in or previous to 1842 by two young men who were brothers, at No. 4 Walbrook, in the City of London.<\/p>\n

They called themselves \u201cSteel and copper plate engravers and printers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, they acquired the business of Tosswill & Co. and we find them at 24 Budge Row, as well as No. 4 Walbrook, but this was presumably only an enlargement of their previous premises as the streets run parallel, and their offices ran through from one into the other.<\/p>\n

In 1849, believing that Baxter\u2019s process was, for several reasons, likely to increase in popularity, they were duly impressed with the announcement he was publishing of his willingness to grant licences.<\/p>\n

By some means they got into touch with Mr. Sidney H. Wright, and, as before stated, he agreed to enter their employ and superintend the work, and thus began his long association with Le Blond & Co.<\/p>\n

Robert and Abraham Le Blond, the two brothers who constituted the firm, were descended from an old and aristocratic Huguenot family.<\/p>\n

It was said to be an ancestor of theirs who set up in Spitalfields the first silk weaving machine. They also claimed to include in their pedigree James Christopher Le Blon, the well-known figure who, about the time of Hogarth, was the first to produce pictures in their natural and proper colours from a series of metal plates which was the real origin of the three-colour process.<\/p>\n

The art of picture production, as well also as a sense of religious toleration, was thus in their blood.<\/p>\n

It is interesting, therefore, but not so very surprising, to know that whilst the elder after a short time began travelling about supporting with voice and purse several advanced causes of that time, the younger stayed in the workshop publishing pictures by the process which then and for years after produced so much of the output of coloured illustration in this country.<\/p>\n

Robert, the elder, was born on August 4, 1816. He learned his trade with one Thomas Brooker, of 13 Walbrook, and whose sister Sarah he married on November 19, 1837.<\/p>\n

Before settling down in England he went to America, but he soon returned and then started business at 4 Walbrook, in partnership with his younger brother, Abraham, and close to the premises of Mr. Brooker, where he was apprenticed.<\/p>\n

Robert Le Blond was apparently of a temperament very different to his brother, Abraham, and although perhaps deficient in tact\u2014as is evidenced by his calling his son after Robert Emmet, the \u201cIrish Patriot\u201d who was convicted of and hanged for murder\u2014was yet a man according to his lights of very considerable ability and character.<\/p>\n

To understand his position it is necessary to know a little of the life and work of George Jacob Holyoake.<\/p>\n

This gentleman was born at Birmingham in 1817, and was connected with the first Exhibition of Arts in that city in 1839.<\/p>\n

He was brought up on strict Evangelical lines, but he joined the Reform League there in 1831, became a Chartist in 1838, was present at the Bull Ring riots in 1839, and finally, being called upon to examine closely the evidences of Christianity, he rejected them.<\/p>\n

Arrested for blasphemy he was tried at Gloucester in 1842, and was sentenced to six months\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n

Then he modified his opinions, and in 1846 began to advocate secularism.<\/p>\n

This doctrine is defined as being the teaching of the real, the known, the useful, and the affirmative. It is supposed to be the practical side of scepticism.<\/p>\n

It teaches only the duties of this life as far as they can be understood, leaving the obligations with respect to another life to those who believed themselves, or thought themselves in possession of the knowledge of that other life.<\/p>\n

To advance these principles he established in 1846 a weekly newspaper called The Reasoner<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Robert Le Blond largely attached himself to and became intimately associated with Holyoake.<\/p>\n

In the early part of 1853 Robert Le Blond was engaged in speaking in support, and in every way forwarding the opening of Exhibitions on Sundays, especially with reference to the Crystal Palace; in fact in that movement he was a pioneer. The Sunday League was formed in 1855.<\/p>\n

On 13th April of 1853 he wrote a letter to The Reasoner<\/em>, describing himself as one of its subscribers \u201cfor some years past,\u201d to know why they took no part in advocating the opening of the Crystal Palace on Sunday, to which he received a favourable response.<\/p>\n

In a lecture he gave on the subject on April 26, 1853, he said, \u201cIf the working men of this country do not get the Crystal Palace opened to them on Sundays they will lose an opportunity of achieving their emancipation from priestly influence which they may not obtain again for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 8 we find a Resolution was passed \u201cThat a London Secular Society be formed,\u201d and Holyoake, Robert Le Blond, and a few others were the first members. A committee to prepare its rules was formed, and Robert Le Blond was one of them.<\/p>\n

On June 1, 1853, Holyoake announced that the members of the Society would have free access after that month to Mr. Robert Le Blond\u2019s library of three thousand volumes and current publications.<\/p>\n

The following letter was sent out:<\/p>\n

10 Liverpool Street, London,
\n\u201cJuly, 1853.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Sir,<\/p>\n

\u201cI have great pleasure in renewing my invitation to yourself and the rest of the members of the London Secular Society to visit my library on the evenings of every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe library will be open from 6.30 to 9, and in addition to the opportunity therein afforded for the perusal of a large number of standard works, I have made arrangements by which there will be laid on the table The Times<\/em>, Daily News<\/em>, and Globe<\/em>, the Athen\u00e6um<\/em>, Nonconformist<\/em>, Weekly Despatch<\/em>, Atlas<\/em>, Leader<\/em>, Illustrated London News<\/em>, Glasgow Sentinel<\/em>, Reynolds\u2019 Weekly Newspaper<\/em>, Lloyd\u2019s Weekly News<\/em>, The New York Tribune<\/em>, The Reasoner<\/em>, Political Examiner<\/em>, Chambers\u2019 Edinburgh Journal<\/em> and Punch<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese will be regular, but I anticipate friends to the secular cause from all parts of the country will contribute newspapers, etc., from their various localities which, of course, I cannot at present enumerate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the full and confident hope the course I am taking will be a source of pleasure and improvement to the members generally,<\/p>\n

\u201cI remain, yours faithfully,<\/p>\n

\u201cROBERT LE BLOND.<\/p>\n

\u201cP.S.\u2014You will oblige by bringing with you your card of membership.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Liverpool Street at that time\u2014the great railway station not having then been built\u2014was the place of residence of many well-to-do City merchants.<\/p>\n

On August 31, 1853, there is a description of this library in The Political Examiner<\/em><\/em>.<\/p>\n

It says the books are divided into sections ranged in mahogany cases round a spacious and handsome apartment in the centre of which stood a stupendous chandelier which \u201cgives an air of gorgeousness to the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also says it was no niggardly hand and narrow intellect that collected that library and consecrated it to the elevation of the working classes of both sexes, and that it was a library in the fullest sense, with works in every department of literature with no spark of sectarianism.<\/p>\n

Then the writer goes on to describe Robert Le Blond and says:<\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw him before I came to London, though his reputation as a friend of the people and as an earnest advocate of the free use of the Sabbath has penetrated to all the large towns of the kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw him a short time ago at a public meeting. He is a dark man about forty years of age, rather corpulent, and, if the ladies are good judges, ought to be considered handsome.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis bright, restless eyes and merry laugh denote a happy blending of the intellectual and good-natured.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a public speaker he is very popular, as fluent and humorous speakers generally are. He is regarded by working men as their true friend, for his hand is ever ready to assist what his tongue dictates. His good nature is only equalled by his munificence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A little later the Secular Society appointed a deputation consisting of Holyoake and Robert Le Blond to visit the principal towns of the North and hold public meetings to explain its objects, and they were to report at a tea party and soir\u00e9e to be held at the Hall of Science in the City Road, on September 28.<\/p>\n

At this soir\u00e9e Robert Le Blond gave oratorical imitations of the agreeable pomposity of some of the extraordinary opponents they came across during their tour. Louis Blanc was on the platform.<\/p>\n

On November 30, 1853, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Le Blond entertained some seventy or eighty of the members. The Reasoner<\/em>, describing the affair, says: \u201cThe spacious saloon adjoining the library was thrown open and tables spread in both apartments which began to be filled from 7 p.m. Courses of viands, recitations, music and conversation occupied the guests until a late hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, 1855, Le Blond, Holyoake, Robert Cooper and others signed a manifesto calling for improved organisation of all Freethinkers, and a conference was held in July to obtain this end, but Robert Le Blond was absent in consequence of severe illness.<\/p>\n

On August 19 he was stated in the Reasoner to be rapidly recovering, but on September 30, being requested by the Committee for the burial of Feargus O\u2019Connor, M.P., to speak at the funeral, as a well known representative in the cause of the political improvement of the people, his health prevented his compliance.<\/p>\n

On January 30, 1856, a party was given at John Street, Fitzroy Square, in his honour, which in The Reasoner<\/em> was described as the most complete and agreeable the Secular Society had ever given, more than one hundred ladies and gentlemen being present, and an address was presented which begins by saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the period of ill health and anxious occupation through which you have passed and which has interrupted the intercourse between yourself and this society, its members and friends have solicited this opportunity of expressing to you their undiminished regard.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And R. Cooper wrote describing Robert Le Blond as \u201cone of the most liberal and independent men, who has courageously identified himself with the cause of religious and political liberty, and that he had set a noble example to his class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Le Blond\u2019s reply to the address, in consequence of his health, was very brief, but he spoke of Secularism being dear to him.<\/p>\n

This party marked the end of Robert Le Blond\u2019s activities in this country.<\/p>\n

About this time his finances were in a deplorable condition and his library, which he had increased to four thousand volumes, was seized for debt.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt he had very largely financed the Secularist and other causes and had spent, directly or indirectly, a great deal of money in their interests, and by so doing impoverished himself.<\/p>\n

What was particularly referred to by the words in the address presented to him of \u201canxious occupation,\u201d it is not now possible to say, but it is very likely that in the first few years of their licence the firm made a good deal of money, but that a check to some extent was placed on the demand for prints by the Baxter process by the oncoming of the Crimean War.<\/p>\n

We cannot trace that any benefit accrued to the firm of Le Blond & Co. by these outside activities of one of its partners. The fact that one of them was largely engaged in Free Thought propaganda would not be likely, perhaps, to help them in securing orders from societies like Missionary Societies, The Religious Tract Society, and other bodies, and firms whose publications were of a religious or quasi-religious character, and this may be the reason why they secured so little book illustration.<\/p>\n

In the prints they produced there is not discernible any subjects of a propaganda character.<\/p>\n

In March, 1856, Robert Le Blond and his son Robert Emmet Le Blond (who still lives), after their troubles here went to America to try and prepare a new home for the family.<\/p>\n

Robert about this time gave up all interest in the firm.<\/p>\n

His life would make an interesting biography, but unfortunately the material for it was destroyed by fire some years ago.<\/p>\n

When Robert Le Blond arrived on American soil he secured a situation as book-keeper and proof-reader with Wright, Son & Co., of Cincinnati, and later he became American agent for Blackie & Son, of Glasgow.<\/p>\n

At one time, too, in conjunction with his sons as assistants, he started a small printing office, but it soon closed down. In June, 1863, he returned to England broken in health, and died on the 18th October at No. 13 Walbrook\u2014where his sister Jane was then living\u2014of dropsy, at the early age of forty-seven.<\/p>\n

His eldest son, Robert Emmet Le Blond\u2014who well remembers his father\u2019s library\u2014has for some years carried on the R. K. Le Blond Machine Tool Company, a successful business in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

There is extant a very interesting letter written by this gentleman on January 12, 1909, to the Inland Printer<\/em>, which gives a glimpse of the business of Le Blond & Co. as it was prior to his father going to America. It says:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been much interested in the article in the Inland Printer<\/em>, by Charles E. Dawson, on Baxter type, particularly as I worked in the office of Le Blond & Co., 24 Budge Row, London, who were licencees of Baxter. This was in 1854 and 1855.
\n\u201cThe firm of Le Blond & Co. was composed of my father Robert and his brother Abram. My father came to America in 1856, leaving his brother Abram in charge of the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actual printing of the \u2018oil prints\u2019 as they were designated by us was carried on in the workshops at No. 4 Walbrook, a small street leading out of Budge Row, and coming out on Cheapside by the Mansion House. This work, as Dawson says, was all done on hand presses; in fact, outside of the newspaper and large book offices there were no power presses then.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had over twenty hand presses at Walbrook, and at Budge Row half a dozen lithograph presses, and as many copperplate presses. I pulled a hand press in the room just outside of the one where the oil prints were printed. I was then fourteen years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a rule the other employees were not allowed in there, and of course strangers visiting any workshops in the old country was and is entirely out of the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to my recollection these prints were first engraved on a steel plate, as Dawson says, a key plate, or as I should call it, a master plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom transfers from this the different colour blocks were engraved, mostly on box wood, some on copper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn printing, each form contained two blocks each of a different colour, two colours being used at a time on the ink table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe roller had about two inches cut out of the centre so that the colours would not mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the top sheet on the tympan was printed it was taken off the points and put on the lower set of points and a new sheet put on above.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times the pressman touched up a certain part that needed it with a little pad of composition carrying a different tint to what was on the roller. This, as you may imagine, was slow work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should say that 900 a day was the maximum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn your article you say that 900 or 1,500 was a fair day\u2019s work for a pressman or helper. I think this should read and helper\u2014there were almost invariably two to a press. One journeyman and one apprentice, except with the more advanced apprentices who had charge of a press with a younger apprentice to help them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sheets were printed on dry stock. I am sure I never saw any dampening of sheets in that department, but in most other work done there the paper was wet down first and kept about the same degree of dampness until the job was finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe colour was furnished us dry and was ground and mixed as it was needed, mostly by the apprentice, while the journeyman made the forme ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was generally the rule all over the shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll colours came dry except Chinese blue and black, and perhaps a few others. A man was employed to grind most of the ink, where comparatively large quantities were needed, but on smaller and more particular jobs each pressman had his own stone muller, and ground and mixed his own ink. In the oil print department they had certain standard tints of which they kept a stock on hand, carefully protected from drying, and replenished them by fresh grinding when needed. Most of these formes were kept locked up all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a run was finished the chase with tympan frame attached containing all the make-ready was lifted off the press and carefully stood aside and the chase with the next two colours put on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, while involving quite an outlay for chases, etc., effected a considerable saving of time in making ready. A different point hole was used for each impression, as can be seen by some of the prints I have sent you. Fifteen or more point holes are on some, showing that that number of colours has been used.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would take quite an expert to pick out and number the different colours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the work of the licencees not equalling that of Baxter, I never saw any of his, but I think you will find on examining the specimens I have sent you that they are very nearly perfect. These prints are nearly, if not quite, fifty years old, and to my eye show no deterioration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe smaller prints were sold at about 1s. 6d. each, and I believe were originally designed to use as labels on cotton goods, but gradually got to be used as pictures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were generally trimmed close and mounted on the embossed card showing the title, etc.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese prints were, as you say, each subjected to careful inspection, and none allowed to go out unless perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our firm moved their shops from London to Kingston-on-Thames, about 1860, several of our men left and were employed by Kronheim & Co., who were endeavouring to do that class of work, but I never saw any of their work to equal ours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn reference to the tympans used by Baxter being of sheet metal, ours were simply of calico stretched tight on the frame enclosing the necessary additional paper and sheets and overlays.
\n\u201cI never heard of sheet metal being used for that purpose.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It must be remembered the writer of this interesting epistle was, when he worked with the firm in London, only in his teens, so what he says must be taken, perhaps, with a little reserve.<\/p>\n

From the time of Robert Le Blond leaving England to the final dissolution, the business was carried on by Abraham Le Blond.<\/p>\n

We may assume if the firm took up the licence in 1849 and Robert Le Blond did not depart for America until 1856, that at least a substantial part of the firm\u2019s work by the Baxter process, including some of the ovals, was performed whilst both partners were in the firm, and not under the directing hand of Abraham only, but from what has been before said it would appear that most of Robert\u2019s time and energy were given to propaganda and not to printing.<\/p>\n

No alteration in the name of the firm seems to have been made on the departure of Robert.<\/p>\n

Abraham Le Blond, the other partner, was three years younger than his brother Robert, he having been born on February 11, 1819.<\/p>\n

Where he learned his trade is not known. There appears to be no accuracy in the suggestion sometimes made that he was apprenticed to or was ever employed by George Baxter.<\/p>\n

He married, in 1842, a lady of the same patronymic as himself.<\/p>\n

In or about 1860 the works were removed to Kingston. The business premises were then or later transferred to Carron House, 14 Upper Thames Street, and about 1862 the firm seems to have been registered under the Companies\u2019 Act as a limited liability company, its business being described as \u201cWholesale stationers, engravers, lithographers and printers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately money was borrowed on debentures, and in 1894 a Receiver was appointed, who sold off all the assets, including a great many prints then in stock.<\/p>\n

The goodwill was ultimately purchased by Barclay & Fry, and with the break up of the business Mr. Sidney H. Wright found himself, after forty-five years\u2019 service, out of employment.<\/p>\n

Abraham Le Blond died at Kingston in 1894, at the age of 75. His wife predeceased him by a very short period. The end of both was no doubt accelerated by the disaster which overcame the business to which he was much attached, and to which it had been his ardent desire his sons should succeed.<\/p>\n

One who knew Abraham Le Blond in 1868, when he lived at Montague Cottage, Kingston Hill, says he had there a fine old-fashioned garden, and that Le Blond used to drive to town and back daily.<\/p>\n

Afterwards he built a house for his son-in-law next to Montague Cottage.<\/p>\n

Their family consisted of two sons, Frank and Bernard, and three daughters, Harriet, Rose, and Flora.<\/p>\n

The two sons were in the business before it broke up.<\/p>\n

Bernard was a more or less clever artist.<\/p>\n

The father had a patient and kindly temperament and was passionately devoted to nature.<\/p>\n

His garden and his roses were his delight.<\/p>\n

The letters set out on Plates 53 and 54 which follow page 306 are from the originals in Abraham Le Blond\u2019s own handwriting. That of November 3, 1893, written shortly before his death to the late Mr. F. M\u00f6ckler, is believed to be the last letter Le Blond ever wrote. Both may be deemed of interest.<\/p>\n

He uttered no reproaches about those who were instrumental in bringing about the fate of the business, although as he saw it they had done him a great, unnecessary, and undeserved wrong, and to some of them he had in earlier days extended kindness.<\/p>\n

About the year 1848, when Louis Philippe and his Queen had to fly from France, Abraham Le Blond is said to have saved the life of her ex-Majesty. It is certain he received from her a fine bowl, and a letter of gratitude.<\/p>\n

In their several ways each of these brothers perhaps succeeded in making the world a little brighter.<\/p>\n

The elder may have been too advanced for his time, but some of the causes he espoused\u2014Sunday opening of places of instruction, for instance\u2014have long since been conceded.<\/p>\n

The younger in the pictures he produced has given pleasure to many, not only in his own days but in these.<\/p>\n

Yet neither of them was able to leave behind any of that wealth which the world bestows upon many of its deserving and upon some of its undeserving sons.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Notes and Corrections<\/h2>\n

The chapter above was published in 1928, more than sixty years after Robert Le Blond\u2019s death and more than thirty years after the death of Abraham Le Blond. Courtney Lewis had access to family recollections and other material that is no longer known to survive, making his account extremely valuable. At the same time, later genealogical research and newly accessible records allow several of his statements to be corrected, qualified, or expanded.<\/p>\n

Huguenot Family<\/h3>\n

The Le Blonds were a Huguenot family, but their supposed aristocratic status has not been established. Lewis describes Robert and Abraham as descendants of an \u201cold and aristocratic Huguenot family.\u201d Their French Protestant ancestry is well supported by surviving records, but I have found no evidence that the family was aristocratic or of noble status. The description should therefore be regarded as family tradition unless further documentation is discovered. <\/p>\n

First Silk-Weaving Machine<\/h3>\n

The story that a Le Blond ancestor introduced the first silk-weaving machine to Spitalfields remains unverified. Lewis says that an ancestor of Robert and Abraham was reputed to have established the first silk-weaving machine in Spitalfields. The family certainly had connections with the textile trades, but I have not found a contemporary record identifying the ancestor involved or confirming the claim. Lewis himself introduces the story cautiously with the words \u201cIt was said.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jacob Christoph Le Blon Ancestry<\/h3>\n

The claimed relationship to Jacob Christoph Le Blon has not been proven. Lewis reports that the family claimed the pioneering color printer Jacob Christoph Le Blon as part of its pedigree. Modern research has reconstructed Le Blon\u2019s family in Frankfurt, but no documentary connection has yet been found between that family and the London Le Blonds. The relationship should therefore be treated as an old family claim rather than established genealogy. <\/p>\n

Robert’s Birth Date<\/h3>\n

Lewis appears to give the wrong birth date for Robert Le Blond. Lewis states that Robert was born on 4 August 1816. The surviving parish record gives his birth as 4 September 1816, followed by baptism later that month. The August date appears to be an error that Lewis repeated from his earlier writings.<\/p>\n

Robert Emmet<\/h3>\n

Robert Emmet was executed for high treason, not murder. Lewis remarks that Robert Le Blond named his son after the Irish patriot Robert Emmet, \u201cwho was convicted of and hanged for murder.\u201d This is incorrect. Emmet was convicted of high treason following the failed Irish rising of 1803. Lewis\u2019s accompanying judgment that the choice of name demonstrated a lack of tact is his own opinion. <\/p>\n

Chartist Movement<\/h3>\n

Robert Le Blond was himself active in the Chartist movement. Lewis devotes considerable space to George Jacob Holyoake\u2019s Chartist background but does not explain that Robert Le Blond had already been active in Chartism. Contemporary newspaper evidence places Robert in the movement by 1839, when he served as secretary of the General Metropolitan Charter Association. He remained involved in Chartist politics into the early 1850s. Robert should therefore be described not merely as a friend of Chartists, but as a Chartist activist in his own right.<\/p>\n

Activism<\/h3>\n

Robert\u2019s political and social activism began well before his work with the London Secular Society. Lewis concentrates on Robert\u2019s association with Holyoake beginning in the early 1850s. That association was important, but it represented a continuation of earlier reform activity rather than its beginning. Robert had already been involved in working-class political organization, public education, and Chartism for well over a decade by the time Lewis\u2019s narrative reaches the formation of the London Secular Society. Lewis does, however, document Robert\u2019s intimate association with Holyoake and his prominent role in the secularist movement. <\/p>\n

Sunday opening of the Crystal Palace<\/h3>\n

Robert\u2019s campaign for Sunday opening of the Crystal Palace was substantial and is independently documented. Lewis correctly identifies Robert as an early advocate of opening cultural and educational institutions to working people on Sundays. Robert lectured publicly on the subject in 1853 and published a pamphlet titled The Crystal Palace, Ought It to Open on a Sunday? His campaign was therefore more than a passing interest; it was one of his major reform causes of the period. <\/p>\n

Secularism <\/h3>\n

Robert\u2019s religious position was probably more complicated than Lewis\u2019s phrase \u201cFree Thought propaganda\u201d suggests. Robert unquestionably worked closely with Holyoake, helped organize the London Secular Society, opened his large private library to its members, and spoke of Secularism as dear to him. Yet later recollections describe him as retaining Christian beliefs while working alongside secularists. Early secularism under Holyoake was broad enough to attract both religious believers and unbelievers, so Robert should not automatically be described as an atheist merely because of his involvement with the movement. <\/p>\n

Private Library<\/h3>\n

Robert\u2019s private library was a remarkable part of his reform work. In 1853 he opened a library of approximately 3,000 volumes to members of the London Secular Society several evenings each week, along with a wide assortment of newspapers and periodicals. By 1856 Lewis says the collection had grown to about 4,000 volumes. The library was intended not simply for private use but for the education and improvement of working men and women, making it an important part of Robert\u2019s social activism. <\/p>\n

Finances<\/h3>\n

Lewis\u2019s claim that Robert impoverished himself by supporting reform causes is plausible, but not fully proved. Lewis states that Robert\u2019s finances had become desperate by 1856, that his library was seized for debt, and that he had spent heavily in support of secularist and other reform causes. The surviving evidence confirms that Robert gave substantial financial and practical support to such causes, but Lewis\u2019s further conclusion that this spending was the principal cause of his financial collapse remains an interpretation rather than a demonstrated fact. <\/p>\n

Politics<\/h3>\n

The suggestion that Robert\u2019s politics hurt Le Blond & Co.\u2019s business is also speculative. Lewis wondered whether Robert\u2019s involvement in Free Thought made the firm less attractive to missionary societies, religious publishers, and similar customers, and whether this explained the company\u2019s limited book-illustration work. Lewis himself presents this only as a possibility. No surviving business records have yet been found that prove such customers avoided Le Blond & Co. for political or religious reasons.<\/p>\n

Abraham Le Blond\u2019s Apprenticeship<\/h3>\n

Abraham Le Blond\u2019s apprenticeship is no longer a mystery. Lewis writes that where Abraham learned his trade was unknown and rejects the suggestion that he had been apprenticed to George Baxter. Later research has answered the question. Abraham\u2019s surviving 1833 apprenticeship indenture records that he was bound for seven years to William Richard Newman, printer and lithographic engraver of Widegate Street, Bishopsgate. He later obtained the Freedom of the City of London. Lewis was therefore correct that Abraham was not Baxter\u2019s apprentice, but the identity of his actual master is now known. <\/p>\n

Dates <\/h3>\n

The date when Le Blond & Co. became a limited company requires further verification. In this 1928 account Lewis suggests that the firm became a limited liability company about 1862. In his earlier writings he had given a substantially later date. Until the surviving company-registration records are located, the precise date should be treated with caution. <\/p>\n

Family Lore<\/h3>\n

The story that Abraham saved Queen Marie-Am\u00e9lie\u2019s life should be regarded as family tradition unless further evidence appears. Lewis reports that Abraham was said to have saved the life of the former Queen of France after Louis Philippe and his family fled the country in 1848. He adds that Abraham unquestionably received a bowl and a letter of gratitude from her. The gift and letter, if they can be located, may confirm that Abraham rendered some service to the queen, but Lewis does not provide evidence establishing the dramatic claim that he actually saved her life. <\/p>\n

Robert Emmet Le Blond<\/h3>\n

Robert Emmet Le Blond\u2019s 1909 recollections are an unusually valuable eyewitness source. Lewis reproduces a long letter written by Robert Emmet Le Blond describing his work as a teenager in the Le Blond & Co. printing shop in 1854 and 1855. He describes the hand presses, color blocks, ink preparation, registration, staffing, and inspection of the finished prints. Because he wrote more than fifty years after the events, individual technical details should be checked where possible, but the letter remains one of the most important surviving first-person descriptions of the company\u2019s working methods. One point obscured by modern OCR is clear in the original printing: he estimated that \u201c900 a day was the maximum\u201d output under the conditions he remembered. <\/p>\n

Political Reformer<\/h3>\n

Lewis understates Robert Le Blond\u2019s importance as a political reformer. Read together with contemporary newspapers and surviving reform literature, Robert emerges as much more than the less business-minded half of Le Blond & Co. He was a Chartist organizer, public speaker, supporter of working-class education, advocate of Sunday access to cultural institutions, associate of George Jacob Holyoake, organizer of the early London Secular Society, owner of a large lending library, and a financial supporter of political and religious reform movements. His political life deserves to be considered alongside his role in the printing firm rather than treated merely as a distraction from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 17 of The Story of Picture Printing in England during the Nineteenth Century by C.T. Courtney Lewis reveals significant information about my third great grandfather, Robert LeBlond (1816-1863), the elder brother of the printing and engraving partnership with Abraham LeBlond. Robert was founding member of the London Secular Society and invited members to visit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[51,52],"class_list":["post-10168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leblond-prints","tag-leblond","tag-leblond-prints"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3viLY-2E0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9384,"url":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/the-village-spring-leblond-oval-print\/","url_meta":{"origin":10168,"position":0},"title":"The Village Spring, LeBlond Oval Print","author":"Karen","date":"September 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Village Spring Le Blond No. 88 Date: 1854-1867 Size: 6 3\/4\" \u00d7 5 1\/4\" Villagers gather around a spring in a quiet country setting. 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Courtney Lewis, 1920 This print is one of only two upright ovals, the other being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LeBlond Prints"","block_context":{"text":"LeBlond Prints","link":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/category\/prints-postcards\/leblond-prints\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Wedding-Day-Oval-Detail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Wedding-Day-Oval-Detail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Wedding-Day-Oval-Detail.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Wedding-Day-Oval-Detail.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Wedding-Day-Oval-Detail.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Wedding-Day-Oval-Detail.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9360,"url":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/the-swing-leblond-oval-print\/","url_meta":{"origin":10168,"position":3},"title":"The Swing, LeBlond Oval Print","author":"Karen","date":"September 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Swing Le Blond No. 92 Date: 1854-1867 Size: 6 3\/4\" \u00d7 5 1\/4\" Children enjoy a swing amid the trees of a peaceful rural setting. From The LeBlond Book by C. T. Courtney Lewis, 1920 108. The Swing. Le Blond, No. 92.After a painting by Webster. On the branch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LeBlond Prints"","block_context":{"text":"LeBlond Prints","link":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/category\/prints-postcards\/leblond-prints\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Swing-Detail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Swing-Detail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Swing-Detail.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Swing-Detail.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7744,"url":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/moonlight-leblond-oval-print\/","url_meta":{"origin":10168,"position":4},"title":"Moonlight, LeBlond Oval Print","author":"Karen","date":"June 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Moonlight Le Blond No. 116 Date: 1854-1867 Size: 6 3\/4\" \u00d7 5 1\/4\" A moonlit fortune-telling scene beside a stream and the ruins of an old abbey. From The LeBlond Book by C. T. Courtney Lewis, 1920, page 100 'How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!' On the left\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LeBlond Prints"","block_context":{"text":"LeBlond Prints","link":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/category\/prints-postcards\/leblond-prints\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moonlight-Header.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moonlight-Header.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moonlight-Header.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moonlight-Header.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moonlight-Header.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3888,"url":"https:\/\/www.karenfurst.com\/blog\/the-blackberry-gatherers-leblond-oval-print\/","url_meta":{"origin":10168,"position":5},"title":"The Blackberry Gatherers, LeBlond Oval Print","author":"Karen","date":"February 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Blackberry Gatherers Le Blond No. 76 Date: 1854-1867 Size: 6 3\/4\" \u00d7 5 1\/4\" Children gather blackberries along a tree-lined country lane. 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