A Memoir of Thomas Bewick Written by Himself
Embellished by Numerous Wood Engravings, Designed and Engraved by the Author for a Work on British Fishes, and Never before Published

The 1862 posthumously published autobiography of the wood engraver who became one of the world's greatest illustrators of nature.

Thomas Bewick (Author)

9781108070812, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 March 2014

374 pages, 47 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.48 kg

Synonymous with finely crafted wood engravings of the natural world, Thomas Bewick (1753–1828) perfected an instantly recognisable style which was to influence book illustration well into the nineteenth century. Begun in November 1822, at the behest of his daughter Jane, and completed in 1828, Bewick's autobiography was first published in 1862. The opening chapters recall vividly his early life on Tyneside, his interest in the natural world, his passion for drawing, and his apprenticeship with engraver Ralph Beilby in Newcastle, where he would learn his trade and then work in fruitful partnership for twenty years. Later passages in the work reveal Bewick's strongly held views on religion, politics and nature. The work also features illustrations for a proposed work on British fish. Bewick's General History of Quadrupeds (1790) and History of British Birds (1797–1804), the works which secured his high reputation, are also reissued in this series.

Preface
Chapters 1-28
Final
Appendix.

Subject Areas: The arts: general issues [AB]