A Bit of a Mystery. Who was S. Russell - Printer in Oil Colours

Starting with George Baxter in 1847, and after the granting of licences in 1850, both he and three of the Licensee printers supplied considerable quantities of their small, mainly landscape prints, to the publishers of ladies pocket books, or what we would now call pocket diaries. They were published annually and tended to have rather grand titles, such as "Marshall's Ladies Fashionable Repository for 1855". Boots Diary for 1999 hasn't quite the same allure to it! They usually contained a colour print as the frontispiece, but sometimes there were up to five colour prints as in the "Le Souvenir" series. The remaining illustrations were black and white engravings. Major publishers of these little volumes were R. A. Suttaby and The Religious Tract Society. Examples are nowadays very hard to find.

Probably the most desirable of the pocket books to a collector is the series of Le Souvenir, not only because they contain five prints, but also because the earlier ones contain some of Baxter's most charming and rare pocket book prints. They appear in Le Souvenir from 1847 to 1852, followed by Kronheim's in the 1853 and 1854 editions. Then in 1855 a new colour printer appears and not a recognised license e. On the title page of Le Souvenir for 1855 it states, "With illustrations in Oil Colours by S. Russell. London".

This appears to imply that the colour illustrations are done by a process, if not actually after Baxter's process, then In a very similar manner. It contains five landscapes in colour, which are titled, but there is no mention in the plate margin of the colour printer. Le Souvenir contains five colour prints by Russell up to 1858, after which Kronheim prints appear again. Russell's prints also appear in other ladies' pocket books between 1855 and 1858 and again between 1862 and 1864.

Who was S. Russell of London? How did he come to use the Baxter process, or a variation of it? There are a few articles about his prints in the Baxter Times magazines of the 1920's, but the author provides more queries than answers.

The arrival of his prints in 1855 may be significant as the renewal of Baxter's patent ended in 1854, after which anyone could use his process. It is suggested in the Baxter Times artic les that Russell might have been one of Baxter's apprentices or learnt the process from one of Baxter's workmen, but no firm evidence has been forthcoming.

All his recorded prints, about thirty in number, are pocket book prints and can be recognised by a dominance of greens and pale yellows. They almost look like watercolouring. If he used a variation of the Baxter process, his prints suggest he reduced the number of colours. They are not such fine work as those by Le Blond and Kronheim, but are more pleasing than the pocket-book prints of Bradshaw and Blacklock, which tend to be rather crude. Often, the same subjects appear in different pocket books and they do not appear to be original designs, but versions in colour of engravings by such as Havell. Some of the scenic subjects were also produced by Kronheim such as "Twilight with the Gipsies" and "Bishop's Walk, Putney".

Questions still remain unanswered about this colour printer. Who was he and where did he learn his trade? Did he produce colour prints other than the pocket book prints? None appear to be recorded. Why the apparent absence of any prints between 1858 and 1862?

Which member is a Sherlock Holmes and can shed more light on the Mystery?