John Bewick: Engraver on Wood, 1760-1795 : An Appreciation of His Life Together With an Annotated Catalogue of His Illustrations and Designs

Because of the acclaim with which his older brother Thomas was greeted for his superlative wood engravings of animals and birds, John Bewick's name was never entirely forgotten. Such was the brilliance of his brother's skill and reputation however, that it has largely obscured recognition of John Bewick's own life and his considerable achievements as a wood engraver.Yet John Bewick was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, designer-engravers in England to make his living almost exclusively by illustrating books; and his popularity resulted in his contributing illustrations and engravings to no less than sixty titles - mostly children's books - during a tragically short working life.Nigel Tattersfield's book is the first to establish John Bewick as an artist-engraver in his own right. It draws upon largely unpublished correspondence which has come to light during the last few years, John Bewick's own ledger of commissions dating from 1791 (previously unidentified) and a painstaking investigation of the extensive collection of Bewick material presented to the British Museum by his niece Isabella Bewick in 1883.Fully illustrated, with a brief but revealing biography and a comprehensive catalogue, this work represents a significant contribution to the history not only of early children's books but also of popular art in the late eighteenth century.