The Kronheim Exhibition, 2000

In July 2000, the New Baxter Society staged an exhibition sampling some of the work of Joseph Kronheim at St Albans.

Below is an article by the organiser of the event:-

"As our Chairman said, as he welcomed members and their guests to our annual summer gathering on July 16th, "two records have been broken today". The first being the number of individual prints and books on display (over 700) and the second the number of members and guests attending the exhibition (50).

Kronheim has often been denigrated as a colour printer, particularly by Courtney Lewis. His immense output of prints, perhaps as many as 5000, is thought by some to indicate that his firm was just a publishing hack, more concerned with quantity than with quality. Mike Martin (author of the books 'Price Guide to Baxter Prints' & 'Abraham Le Blond') put us right on this score when, at the beginning of the meeting, he talked to us about Kronheim and his work. Mike explained that Kronheim was far more commercial than Baxter, producing a large variety of subjects. He was also an important book illustrator, in particular of children's books of the period, and a great deal of his work was of a very high standard.

We were lucky to have a complete set of prints from "The New Hall Vault", originally purchased by A. E. Owen and shown at the Baxter Society exhibition in 1921. We were told the story of "The New Hall Vault" and how the sheets had been stored in near perfect conditions for, at least, 50 years, not seeing the light of day and consequently retaining their original brilliant colours.

Let me now tell you about the exhibition itself. The exhibits were displayed on about 30 tables set up in a marquee, which was very light and showed the prints to best advantage. The items on display were arranged by categories so the easiest way to give you the flavour of the exhibition will be to mention the highlights of each category.

Sporting and Coaching Prints
The two rare coaching prints "Spring" and "Summer" were to be seen together with a sheet of similar scenes catalogued by Seely in the Baxter Times (BT 13 to BT 24). On a lighter note was the sheet containing "I’ll Step Back or Shall I Blow Him to Pieces"

Topographical Prints
This section of about 40 prints included several of the Crimean war such as "Sebastopol" and "Fort Peter the Great" some of which were shown with both plain and embossed mounts.

Pocket Books and Portraits
It was in this genre of printing that Kronheim produced some of his best works and a good selection of exquisite prints were to be seen with scenes of "St. Mark’s Church, Venice" and "Walnut Gathering Near Newbury" among others. Portraits of Prince Edward and of several Victorian military leaders such as Admiral Sir Charles Napier and Omar Pasha were also shown.

Books and Book Illustrations
This, as Mike Martin mentioned, was one of the firm's most prolific areas of activity and the exhibition mirrored this by having well over 100 books and book illustrations on display. The largest book was "The Brown Bible" with brass clasps, a very weighty object in every respect. At the other extreme was a bound copy of three of Aunt Louisa’s Toy Books including such tales as "Frisky the Squirrel". In between these extremes were copies of "The Christian Chaplet", "The Christian Garland", "The Rosebud" and "The New Casket" to name but a few. Many of the books on show had individual copies of their prints alongside, so that there was no need to open the books to see them.

Decorative Prints
The well-known Kronheim gems "The Village Schoolmaster" (shown right) and "The Wine Tasters" come into this category and there were fine copies of each on display. Among the 60 or so other prints were "At the Flower Show", "The Ten Virgins" and several country subjects.

Needlebox Prints
There were a good selection of prints in this category, including a set of 10 needle boxes in their containing box on which there was a larger print by Bradshaw & Blacklock. Another interesting item was the first pull of a sheet of figures and views that had been incorrectly identified by Courtney Lewis at the beginning of the century as being by Bradshaw and Blacklock.

Reward Cards
There were six sets of Reward Cards on display, including two with Christian subjects and one with Jewish festivals and a set of the Kings and Queens of England.

Miscellaneous Items
Here were to be found some of Kronheim’s prints published in the United States including those printed in New York for the Centennial Insurance Company. There was also an Almanac for 1865, a set of children’s building blocks and the only music cover published by Kronheim - "The Lifeboat Song". Next to all this wholesome stuff were four of Kronheim’s "Naughty Prints"! These were in a case that was discreetly covered so as not to "Shock Gentlemen and Scandalise Ladies". However, I for one, did not see any lady member having an "attack of the vapours".

New Hall Vault Sheets
Some 230 prints were on display in this section, all in pristine condition, set out on 35 sheets. These included sheet 33, the one withdrawn from the Christies' sale (this being the sheet identified on the day as being by Thomas Nelson). Next to this grand spread were letters from the Owen collection referring to J. M. Kronheim, a copy of the Christies' catalogue and some photocopies of "The Baxter Times" showing Seely’s catalogue of some 600 Kronheim’s prints.

After everyone had had their fill of all the treasures on show, it was time for the Prize Draw. A framed Kronheim print "Situation Pèrileuse" (one of the New Hall prints) had been generously donated as a prize and the lucky winner of the name badge draw was Betty Bristow.

The climax of the day was, as always, the Bring and Buy Sale where faint hearts never won fair prints! There was a legion of items in the sale as usual, and many members, including me, came away very satisfied with their purchases.

Altogether a great day out!"