You never know what will work but this looks like kitchen
chemistry to me. For one thing, there is no sulfite or other
preservative in it so my suspicion is that it will cause
severe overall staining and have very short life. There are
other preservatives than sulfite but none of them are listed
either. Perhaps there is an error in the formula as given.
  Pyro paper developers have been published in the past.
They produce a stain image, just as the negative developrs
do. This can be useful as a warm tone developer.
  This thing looks to me like the 1930s formulas compounded
with little or no knoledge of chemistry based simply on
throwing together stuff that seems attractive. AFAIK
Phenidone has no superadditivity with Pyro or chatachol
(Pyrochatichin). Why is it there? Why use this combination
at all?  The imgages look OK but I suspect were not
developed in the formula as given.
  Also, the true Dmax of printing paper is virtually never
used. One can see this by looking at a print with lots of
shadow detail by _transmitted_ light. Generally, you will
find detail in the blacks which do not show up under normal
reflected illumination. Dmax is determined partly by the
emulsion and partly by the texture and surface of the paper,
developer has little effect providing development has been
carried out fully. Developers also have little effect on
paper contrast despite the existence of so called low
contrast developers and variable contrast developers. Unlike
film, paper is developed to reach nearly its maximum density
and minimum density is usually paper white (except for
special images where gray highlights are for some reason
desirable). Film, OTOH, is developed to some intermediate
maximum density, generally far below the capability of the
emulsion. This allows for a range of contrasts by means of
changing the degree of development.
  There are developers other than the Dektol type (lots of
others are essentially identical) which can have an effect
on image color. In particular Phenidone based developers,
like Ilford Bromophen and Agfa Neutol Plus (Phenidone and
Ascorbic acid) can produce more neutral tones. However, the
addition of Benzotriazole to Dektol may accomplish the same
purpose.
 By the same token, and with respect to Chamlee and Smith,
who produce beautiful prints, I don't think there is any
magic to Amidol. A properly compounded conventional
developer will produce equally neutral color and densities.