A Select Bibliography on Thomas Bewick

Including John Bewick, Robert Bewick and other Apprentices

The starting point for the present day reader is:

 

Nature’s Engraver A Life of Thomas Bewick. Jenny Uglow, London: Faber and Faber, 2006 (hardback edition); 2007(paperback edition).

This is better illustrated than any previous biography of Bewick, with one hundred vignettes, fifty figures and thirty three colour illustrations including some of Bewick’s watercolour artwork. There is a full list of the workshop apprentices, a bibliography, notes and index.

Reviewers have all commented on its readability, comprehensive coverage and penetrating grasp of the relevant cultural history.

Published in U.S.A. 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Winner 2007 National Award for Arts Writing presented by Arts Club of Washington, U.S.A.

The Memoir (back to top)

The single most important source of information on Thomas Bewick is his own Memoir. The edition edited by Iain Bain in 1975 bears the following note: ‘The text has been taken directly from the original manuscript now in the British Museum (Add. MS41, 481). There have been five previous editions but this is the first presentation of a full literatim transcript ...’

Iain Bain’s edition was first published in 1975 and was reprinted with corrections in 1979 by the Oxford University Press. A Folio Society edition with the title Thomas Bewick My Life appeared in 1981.

The previous editions were as follows:

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 editor’s preface signed: J. B., i.e. Jane Bewick.], Newcastle upon Tyne; Longman & Co.: London, 1862.

The Memoir also appeared as part of the five volume Memorial Edition of Bewick Works published between 1885 and 1887 by Robert Ward and Son, Newcastle. The editor on this occasion was Austin Dobson.

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 editor’s preface signed: J. B., i.e. Jane Bewick.]

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. With an introduction by Selwyn Image, John Lane: London, 1924.

Memoir of Thomas Bewick. written by himself 1822-1828. Reprint of the 1862 edition with a new introduction by Edmund Blunden, Centaur classics, London, Centaur Press, 1961

A Memoir of Thomas Bewick written by himself. Edited and with an introduction by Montague Weekley. With wood engravings by T. Bewick, Cresset Press: London, 1961.

Subsequently another facsimile of the 1862 edition has been published:

A memoir of Thomas Bewick written by himself. Thomas Bewick,  [History and techniques of book illustration. Collection I, Pre-Victorian book illustration in Britain and Europe] Bristol: Nico editions, Thoemmes. 1998.
In addition a Danish edition of the Memoir was published in 1953 and a Swedish one in 1954.

The Danish translation:

Thomas Bewick, Erindringer Med talrige gengivelser efter forfatterens egne træsnit. Ved H. P. Rohde  H. P. Hansens Bogtrykkeri, 1953, 156 sider Illustreret, omslag med få Bs.

The Swedish translation is cited as:

Thomas Bewick memoarer. Översättning i urval och inledande karaktäristik av H. P. Rohde
Niloe 1954. 160 sidor. Illustrerad efter författarens egna trägravyrer. Tryckt i 500 ex. Häftad med transparent skyddsomslag.


Modern Scholarship (back to top)

 

Bain and Tattersfield

The two foremost Bewick scholars working today are Iain Bain and Nigel Tattersfield, each authoritative in their area of interest. The writers and editors of the Bewick Society website owe a debt of gratitude to both scholars, who are not responsible for any mistakes which may have survived editorial scrutiny.

 

Iain Bain’s contributions are, in chronological order, as follows:

Thomas Bewick, engraver, of Newcastle, 1753-1828: a check-list of his correspondence and other papers. 1970.

‘Bewick: A Second Gleaning’, The Book Collector, Spring 1972, pp95-105.

Vignettes. being tail-pieces engraved principally for his ‘General History of Quadrupeds’ & ‘History of British Birds’. Thomas Bewick (1st ed. reprinted). Edited, with an introduction by Iain Bain, London, Scolar Press, 1978

Thomas Bewick. an illustrated record of his life and work, by Iain Bain, Laing Art Gallery, Tyne and Wear County Council Museums, 1979

The watercolours and drawings of Thomas Bewick and his workshop apprentices. Introduced and with editorial notes by Iain Bain. London: Fraser, 1981, 2 vols.

The Workshop of Thomas Bewick. A Pictorial Survey, Thomas Bewick Birthplace Trust, 1989. (revised edition of the Laing Art Gallery published text of 1979).

 

Nigel Tattersfield has produced the authoritative account of the Bewick Bookplates and has recently written on the work of John Bewick. Both titles are still in print. Other short items are in relevant sections of this bibliography.

Bookplates by Beilby & Bewick. a biographical dictionary of bookplates from the workshop of Ralph Beilby, Thomas Bewick & Robert Bewick, 1760-1849. London: British Library Publishing. 1999

John Bewick, Engraver on Wood.(1760-1795). An appreciation of his Life together with a Catalogue of his Illustrations and Designs, London: British Library Publishing, 2001.

 

Other Twentieth Century Publications (back to top)

 

Lives: Early Twentieth Century (back to top)

Thomas Bewick, the Tyneside engraver. [With plates.] Basil Anderton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Mawson & Co., 1928.

Post-War Bewick (back to top)

It appears there was a particular interest in Bewick in the 1940s. We might speculate that this had something to do with the then vogue for Neo-Romantic art.

Thomas Bewick, Engraver. Rudolph Rzicka, New York: The Typophiles, 1943.

A selection of engravings. Thomas Bewick, John Rayner, Penguin Books, Ltd.,1947.

A Country zodiac. Illustrated by Thomas Bewick, Zodiac Books,1948. [Notes: Anthology of prose and verse]

Thomas Bewick. A résumé of his life and work, Arthur Graham Reynolds, London: Art & Technics, 1949.

Lives: mid-Twentieth Century (back to top)

Bewick’s work was shown with little acknowledgement at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Two years later however a landmark exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum celebrated the Bicentenary of his birth and led to a number of publications:

Wood Engravings of Thomas Bewick: selected with a biographical introduction, Reynolds Stone, 1953.

Thomas Bewick, Montague Weekley, London: Oxford University Press. 1953.

Thomas Bewick, Wood Engraver, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1753-1828. (Text taken from ‘A Treatise on Wood Engraving, Historical and Practical.’) [With illustrations, including a portrait.] William Andrew Chatto, Signet Press: Greenock, 1956.

‘Why Bewick Succeeded: A Note on the History of Wood Engraving’, Kainen, Jacob, Smithsonian Institution, 1959.

Thomas Bewick 1753-1828. Artist, Naturalist and Radical, Ray Watkinson, Our History, pamphlet No.25, Spring 1962, History Group of the Communist Party. [See this item in particular for Bewick’s membership of Radical clubs and his connections with known Radicals. The author speculates on possible connections with Jean Paul Marat during the Frenchman’s period in Newcastle.]


Later Works and lives (back to top)

Selected work. Thomas Bewick. edited with an introduction and notes by Robyn Marsack, Manchester: Fyfield. 1989

Thomas Bewick, marginal drawings & notes. Margaret Ellison & Margaret Gill, Albion monograph. no. 2, Hitchin: Dodman Press. 1978.

Academic Articles, etc. (back to top)

De Mare E. (1980) The Victorian Woodblock Illustrators, Gordon Fraser, London.

Brewer, J. ‘Progressive Agenda: Thomas Bewick,’ London Review of Books 2, (Junction Books, London, 1982), pp. 172-7.

Rosen C and Zerner H (1984) Romanticism and Realism, The Mythology of Nineteenth Century Art, faber and faber, London and Boston.

See in particular The Fingerprint: A Vignette; Chap III The Romantic Vignette and Thomas Bewick.

Potts, Alex, ‘Natural Order and the call of the wild: the politics of animal picturing,’ Oxford Art Journal, vol.13 no.1, 1990, pp.12-33.

Brewer J and Tillyard S, ‘The Moral Vision of Thomas Bewick,’ in Eckhart Hellmuth (ed.), Transformations in Political Culture in late 18th Century England and Germany (Oxford University Press, German Historical Institute, London, 1990), pp. 375-408

Vaughan William, ‘From Menzel to Beardsley: pen line design and facsimile wood engraving,’ Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, vol. 46, 1992, pp. 89-101.

Davis, P. and Holmes, J. ‘Thomas Bewick (1753-1828), Engraver and Ornithologist’ Archives of Natural History,  20:167-184 (1993).

Thompson H., ‘Narrative Closure in the Vignettes of Thomas and John Bewick,’ Word and Image, vol. 10 Oct/Dec, 1994, pp. 395-408.

Le Men, Ségolène, ‘Book Illustration’ chapter 6 of Artistic Relations: Literature and the Visual Arts in Nineteenth Century France, (edited by Peter Collier and Robert Lethbridge, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1994), pp.94-110.

Beegan, Gerry, ‘The Mechanisation of the Image: fascimile, photography, and fragmentation in nineteenth century wood engraving,’ Journal of Design History, vol. 8 no.4, 1995, p.257-74.

Brewer J and Bermingham A (eds), The Consumption of Culture: Word, Image, and Object in the 17th and 18th Centuries, (Routledge, London and New York, 1995), pp.54

Maidment B.E. (1996) Reading Popular Prints 1790-1870, Manchester University Press, Manchester.

Brewer J, “The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century” HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London.

Paperback editions: University of Chicago Press; New Ed edition (2000) and Perennial; New Ed edition (2004)

“..The book blends details from little-known sources with a series of character portraits to present a picture of a flourishing culture. The reader meets figures from all strata of 18th-century English society including: the novelist Samuel Richardson; the engraver and political radical, Thomas Bewick; the composer John Marsh; Dr Johnson; Sancho, the Duke of Montagu’s black footman; Anna Larpent, the censor of books and plays; and the mysterious “poetic milkwoman of Bristol”...”

(from Synopsis http://www.amazon.co.uk)

Blachon, Remi, ‘Thomas Bewick’ and ‘Essor de la gravure sur bois en Angleterre’, being chapters 2 and 3 of La Gravure sur Bois au XIXe Siècle: L’âge du bois debout, Les Éditions de l’Amateur, Paris, 2001, pp.22-38.

Schama, Simon, (2002) A History of Britain, Vol.3 The Fate of Empire, 1776-2000, BBC Books, London.

Particularly Chapter 1: ‘The Forces of Nature: The Road to Revolution?’ (pp.29-33) and Chapter 2: ‘The Forces of Nature: The Road Home.’ (pp.122-126)

Streusand L (2002) Art and Function: The 19th Century Wood Engraving, Technology and Structure of Records Materials, University of Texas at Austin.

See http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~cochinea/pdfs/l-streus-19th-wood-engrav.pdf

Chalmers J (2003) Audubon in Edinburgh and his Scottish Associates, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Contains an account of the famous meetings between Bewick and Audubon and much information on Bewick’s Edinburgh associates.

 

Commemorative Exhibitions and Publications (back to top)

The Water-Colour Drawings of Thomas Bewick, etc. [With plates.] David Croal Thomson. Barbizon House: London, 1930.

Exhibition at the Bethnal Green Museum to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Birth of Thomas Bewick, 1753-1828. Catalogue. [With illustrations.] Albert Museum. Bethnal Green Branch Museum. London, 1953.

 

Thomas Bewick. a commemoration: being impressions from original wood-blocks by T. Bewick and others, David Esslemont, Newcastle City Libraries, 1978 [Notes: ‘... a personal selection [by David Esslemont] from those in Newcastle City Library, to commemorate 150 years since the death of Thomas Bewick’. Printer’s note Limited edition of 100 numbered copies signed by the printer, of which nos. 1-40 are full-bound in leather, nos., 41-80 quarter-bound and the remainder unbound in paper wrappers are not for sale. - Two leaves printed on both sides, Notes: Qtr-leather : £64.00].

 

Gardner-Medwin, David (ed.). Bewick studies: essays in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Bewick, 1753-1828. Stocksfield: Bewick Society, 2003. 160 p. ISBN 0712348522.

This was accomplished with funding from Frank Sharratt and Kerr-McGee North Sea (UK) Ltd. Copies of this prestigious volume were sent free to all Bewick Society members who had joined before November 2003. The book was set in type by Iain Bain using Monotype Bulmer.

The essays:

Dixon, Hugh. ‘Thomas Bewick at 250: landmarks in the building of a reputation’. (pp. 9-22)

Bain, Iain. ‘The correspondence of Thomas Bewick’. (pp. 23-50)

Gardner-Medwin, David. ‘The library of Thomas Bewick’. (pp. 51-72)

Tattersfield, Nigel. ‘Fresh light on the ingenious Beilbys’. (pp. 73-84)

Tattersfield, Nigel. ‘Alexander Anderson, the first American wood engraver : a brief sketch of his earlier career and his debt to Thomas and John Bewick’. (pp. 85-94)

Carlisle, Graham. ‘The American connection : the dispersal of Bewick’s engraved wood blocks since 1942’. (pp. 95-110)

Quinn, Peter. ‘"Their strongest pine": Thomas Bewick and regional identity in the late nineteenth century’. (pp. 111-30)

Newton, Laura. ‘The Bewick Club and the Cullercoats connection’. (pp. 131-49).

 

Bewick Society (2003), Thomas Bewick in Newcastle: A guide to the places in and around the city associated with the artist. This fold-out leaflet is designed to be used as a guide to exploring the city on foot and draws attention to many little-known places such as the sites of the various homes where Bewick lived, his workshops and his parish church, favourite pubs, and the publishing houses where his works were printed. It is illustrated with nine drawings by the Newcastle artist, Mrs Joan Holding, as well as a number of engravings by Bewick and his pupils.

 

Holmes, June. ‘The Many Faces of Bewick and the Bicentenary of his Water Birds’ in Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, Volume 65 part 3, March 2007.

‘The Many Faces of Bewick’ (pp.135 – 224) is a complete catalogue raisonné illustrated in colour of all the known portraits of Thomas Bewick and his associates, by June Holmes, archivist to the Natural History Society. ‘The Bicentenary of Thomas Bewick’s History of British Birds’ (pp 225 – 254) is an illustrated essay celebrating the 1804 publication of the Water Birds, by David Gardner-Medwin.

 

Archive material in published form (back to top)

Correspondence (back to top)

Letters by and to Thomas Bewick can be found in the following sources:

Bewick to Dovaston: Letters 1824-1828, edited by Gordon Williams, London: Bodley Head, 1968.

Records of Messrs. Beilby, later Thomas Bewick & Co., engravers of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1751-1882, Newcastle upon Tyne. Tyne and Wear Archives Service, 1986. 10 microfilm reels (unpublished).

Bibliographies (back to top)

Those seeking information on Bewick editions should consult the following:

Catalogue of a scarce and curious collection of books and wood engravings, formerly belonging to Thomas Bewick ... to be sold by auction ... by Messrs Davison and Son, ... Newcastle upon Tyne ...   (Newcastle: Ward & Son, 1884).
Catalogue of the Bewick Collection (Pease Bequest),
Basil Anderton and W.H. Gibson, City and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Public Libraries Committee, 1904.
Thomas Bewick. A bibliography raisonné of editions of the General History of Quadrupeds, the History of British Birds and the Fables of Aesop issued in his lifetime. [With facsimile titlepages.]
Sydney Roscoe, Oxford University Press: London, 1953. Reprinted 1973.

Thomas Bewick. A catalogue of books illustrated by Thomas Bewick and his pupils, together with a list of books on their work, from the stock of the Manchester Metropolitan University Library.
6th revised edition, Manchester. Manchester Metropolitan University Library. 1993.

 

 

Local Publications (back to top)

Hall, M. The artists of Northumbria (Newcastle: Hall, 1973).

Lawson’s Tyneside Celebrities: sketches of the lives and labours of famous men of the North (Newcastle: William D. Lawson, 1873): Bewick is featured pp. 165-170 + portrait.

Welford, Richard Men of Mark ’twixt Tyne and Tweed, 3 vols. (London: Walter Scott, 1895) Bewick is featured in Vol. 1, pp. 264-272.

Wilkes, Lyall, Tyneside portraits: studies in art and life (Newcastle: Frank Graham, 1971) [- chapter 3 is ‘Thomas Bewick and the Beilby family.’]

Doncaster, Susan Some notes on Bewick’s trade blocks (Newcastle: Newcastle Imprint Club and History of the Book Trade in the North, 1980). [A privately printed pamphlet, based on a lecture to The Newcastle Imprint Club.]

Isaac, Peter (editor) Bewick and after: wood engravings in the Northeast (Newcastle: Allenholme Press, 1990).

Burman, C.C. ‘Alnwick typography, 1748-1900,’ in History of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club 23:305-359 (1919). [Includes transcribed letter by TB to W. Davison, TB’s relationships with Catnach, Bulmer and Davison, and many references to the Alnwick editions of his works.]

Thomas Bewick 1753-1828 Tyneside Artist and Engraver(2003) Glendinning, Flowers & Flowers, Tyne Bridge Publishing at Newcastle City Libraries.

Bewick Society (2003), Thomas Bewick in Newcastle: A guide to the places in and around the city associated with the artist.

The leaflet is designed to be used as a guide to exploring the city on foot and draws attention to many little-known places such as the sites of the various homes where Bewick lived, his workshops and his parish church, favourite pubs, and the publishing houses where his works were printed. It is illustrated with nine drawings by the Newcastle artist, Mrs Joan Holding, as well as a number of engravings by Bewick and his pupils.

Angus, Alan, Thomas Bewick’s Apprentices, 1993, a volume in the History of the Book Trade in the North, produced by the Allenholme Press, Wylam.

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne

Anon. "A Bewick letter and woodcut", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, Ser 4, 3:250 (1928), with 2 illustrations.

Anon. "Lower Pilgrim Street", Proc. Soc Antiqu. Newcastle upon Tyne Series 4, 3:262-263 (1928). [Further description of the Fox and Lamb and additional quotation about TB from Blakey.]

Strangeways, W.N. ‘Thomas Bewick,’ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, Ser 2, 2: 172-175 (1887). [Transcribes and discusses a letter written by TB to his erstwhile apprentice William Harvey, dated 18 August 1818.]

Archaeologia Aeliana (back to top)

Welford, R. ‘Early Newcastle typography. 1639-1800,’  Archaeologia Aeliana. Series 3, 3:1-134  (1907) [Includes much detail about the printers associated with TB.]

Wake, T. ‘Thomas Bewick: a centenary appreciation,’ Archaeologia Aeliana. Series 4, 6:116-129 (1929). [Written when the Bewick family was still at Cherryburn, and the cottage was stabling for pit ponies. Wake was "Junior Curator" of the Society of Antiquaries.]

Philipson, J. ‘Three Bewick blocks,’ Archaeologia Aeliana., Series 5, 1:243-245 (1973). [Records the blocks in possession of the Society of Antiquaries.]
Ellison M. “The Tyne glasshouses and Beilby and Bewick workshops,” Archaeologia Aeliana 5th Series, Vol 3, 1975, 143-193.

Gill, M.A.V. ‘The potteries of Tyne and Wear, and their dealings with the Beilby/Bewick workshop,’ Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5, 4:151-170 (1976).

Isaac, P.C.G. ‘William Bulmer (1757-1830) fine printer,’  Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5,

16:223-237 (1988).  [Includes a section on Bulmer’s working relationship with TB.]

Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne (back to top)

Atkinson GC “Sketch of the life and works of the late Thomas Bewick” Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne vol I [XVI]  132-159 1831.
Trevelyan, W. ‘Bewick correspondence, with Notes,’ Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, 7:97-105 (1880). [Includes transcriptions of ten letters.]

 The following two papers add further letters:

Hancock, J. ‘Bewick correspondence,’ ibid. 7:105-107 (1880). [Two letters from Thomas and one from John Bewick, transcribed.]

[W. Trevelyan]  ‘Letter from Sir John Trevelyan, Bart., to Thomas Bewick,’ ibid. 7:357-8 (1880). [One letter transcribed.]

Jessop L and Boyd MJ Some sources for Thomas Bewick’s work on the Chillingham ‘wild’ cattle. Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne vol 57 1 pp.21-34 1996.

Jessop L Bird specimens figured by Thomas Bewick surviving in the Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne, Natural History Transactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne vol. 59 part 3, pp65-82, 1999.

 

Cherryburn Times (back to top)

Each issue since 1987 has obviously featured articles of interest on Thomas Bewick, his associates, family and the Eighteenth and Nineteenth century worlds of book illustration and engraving in the North of England. The following is an abbreviated list of items of special interest:

 

Vol. 1 No. 1

Bain, I.  ‘Bewick discovered’.

Brewer, S. ‘The Thomas Bewick collection in the City Library, Newcastle upon Tyne.’

 

Vol. 1 No. 2

Feaver, W.  ‘Late 1797’.

Armstrong, I.  ‘Bewick the naturalist’.

Lord Wardington  ‘John William Pease and Thomas Bewick’.

 

Vol. 1 No. 3

‘The Queen Mother opens Cherryburn’

Johnson, J.  ‘A gift for Cherryburn printing house’.

Christensen, K.  ‘Bewick and domesticated animals’.

 

Vol. 1 No. 4

‘Joseph Crawhall’ by Vivien Hamilton (of the Burrell Collection, Glasgow).

‘A Peep into a Northern Bookseller’s Past’ by J.W. Steedman.

 

Vol. 1 No. 5

Clavering, E.  ‘Coal and the Bewicks’.    

   

Vol. 1 No. 6-7

Millard, J.  ‘The Bewick Club’.

 

Vol. 1 No. 7

“The ‘Remarkable Kyloe Ox’:a Special Edition..

Bain, I.  ‘The Quadrupeds:26th April 1990 – a bicentenary.

 

Vol. 1 No. 8

Atkinson, F.  “‘Closely observed’: social history in Bewick’s work.

Angus, A. ‘John Laws of Breckney Hill – a Bewick apprentice.

 

Vol. 1 No. 9

Angus, A.  ‘Bewick’s apprentices’.

Campbell, C.  “Bewick’s ‘History of Quadrupeds’”.

‘Crossing the river’.

 

Vol. 2 No. 1

Tattersfield, N. ‘Bookplates from the workshop of Ralph Beilby, Thomas Bewick and Robert Bewick, 1760-1849’.

Atkinson, F.  ‘Bewick the philosopher’

Dixon, H. ‘A chip off the old block’.

 

Vol. 2 No. 2

Wishart, D.  ‘Three engraved blocks by a pseudo-Bewick’.

Angus, A.  ‘Richard Rutledge Wingate’

 

Vol. 2 No. 4

Tattersfield, N.  ‘Bewick as an investment: some signposts for collectors’.

 

Vol. 2 No. 5

Heath cartoon.

Angus, A.  ‘The Bewick collection of eggs’.

Charlton, J.  “‘Getting there’ Bewick style”.

 

Vol. 2 No. 6

Carlisle, G. ‘More twopence coloured’.

Campbell, C.  ‘Every picture tells a story: Charlotte Bronte and Thomas Bewick’.

 

Vol. 2 No. 7

Angus, A. Letter to the editor.

Angus, A.  ‘An intriguing document’.

Carlisle, G. ‘Ward’s impressions’.

Beresford, R.  ‘Some Bewick drawings and blocks’.

 

Vol. 2 No. 8

‘A rediscovered letter by Thomas Bewick’.

Quinn, P.  ‘Luke Clennell and Thomas Frognall Dibdin: picturing the castle’.

Atkinson, F. ‘The Thomas Bewick Birthplace Trust & the Bewick Society’.

 

Vol. 2 No. 9

Anon.  ‘Waiting for life’ [D W S Gray, Editor]

Quinn, P. ‘The local landscape and modernity’.

Cousins, S.  ‘Cherryburn and the Battie-Wrightson papers’.

 

Vol. 3 No. 1

Tattersfield, N.  ‘John Bewick 1760-1795’.

 

Vol. 3 No. 3

Jones, R.  ‘Thomas Hugo’s Bewick’s woodcuts: a quarry run to earth’..

 

Vol. 3 No. 4

Angus, A. Letter to the editor

Carlisle, G. Letter to the editor.

Thomas, S. ‘Thomas Bewick’s use of papers’.

 

Vol. 3 No. 5

Jones, R. ‘London Group: autumn meeting 1997’.

 

Vol. 3 No. 6

Atkinson, F.  ‘The Bewick graves in Ovingham churchyard’.

Holmes, J.  ‘Thomas Bewick’s nineteenth century jubilee, 1800-1’.

 

Vol. 3 No. 7

Mulholland, R. and Ugalde, E.F. ‘A history of printing inks’.

 

Vol. 3 No. 8

Angus, A.  ‘A mystery solved’.

Holmes, J.  ‘A new Bewick manuscript: Memorial to the Misses Bewick’.

 

Vol. 3 No. 9

Alderson, B.  ‘A pretty piratical book of pictures’.

 

Vol. 4 No. 1

Anon. ‘Iain Bain on Thomas Bewick’s letters’.

 

Vol. 4 No. 2

Gardner-Medwin D., Thomas Bewick, the Barber Surgeons and the ‘Cot’ at the Forth.

 

Vol. 4 No. 3

London walkabout 2001, by Charles Bird.

 

Vol. 4 No. 4

Simon Schama’s Bewick. London walkabout 2002, by Charles Bird.

 

Vol. 4 No. 5

Thomas Bewick’s 250th birthday.

 

Vol. 4 No. 6

Thomas Bewick’s Waterbirds: The Bicentenary, by David Gardner-Medwin.

 

Vol. 4 No. 7

A new portrait of Thomas Bewick.

 

Vol. 4 No. 8

The Cherryburn Book Collection by Felicity Stimpson.

 

Vol. 4 No. 9

The Wild Cattle at Chillingham by DWS Gray.

 

Vol. 5 No. 1

Thomas Bewick and John Clare: Two Rooted Men by R.K.R. Thornton.

 

Vol. 5 No. 2

The Many Faces of Bewick.

 

Vol. 5 No. 3

Gardner-Medwin D. A Newly Discovered Manuscript Memoir Of Bewick By George Clayton Atkinson.

 

Vol. 5 No. 4
Drawn on the Wood by Thomas Bewick: A Missing Link, by Graham Carlisle.
Bewick and Catnach: New Light on Old Discords, by Alex Fotheringham.

 

Miscellanea (back to top)

Davis, P. and Holmes, J. "Thomas Bewick (1753-1828), engraver and ornithologist" ‘Archives of Natural History’, 20:167-184 (1993).

1800 Woodcuts by Thomas Bewick and his school. Edited by Blanche Cirker. Dover Books, 1962.

Thomas Bewick’s Birds (London: Gordon Fraser, 1981)

The king, the pirate and the maid. A dithyramb in doggerel for old and young alike ... Especially composed to accompany divers ancient wood engravings by the master, Thomas Bewick. Foster Macy Johnson, Meriden, Connecticut: Bayberry Hill Press, 1964.

A Bewick bestiary. [Illustrations by Thomas Bewick].James Falconer Kirkup. (North now. no. 4.): Ashington: Mid Northumberland Arts Group, 1971.

Iba de gaunz oaman Kinda. [Gedichte. Geschmückt Haimo Lauth mit Holzstichen aus d. Schule v. Thomas Bewick] Author: Nöstlinger. Christine. 1936- Poetry in German, Wien. Jugend & Volk. 1988. [Note: the title is in Viennese dialect German; this is a book of poems illustrated by ‘woodcuts from the School of Thomas Bewick,’ which may well mean that they have simply been taken from Cirker’s 1800 Woodcuts.]

Fantasy in a wood-block, or, what occurred when John James Audubon, the naturalist, visited with Thomas Bewick, the wood-engraver, in the year 1827. being a narrative by Gordon R. Williams together with a print taken by R. Hunter Middleton from the wood-block which Mr. Bewick was engraving at the time. Gordon R Williams, Caxton Club of Chicago. 1972 [Note: Limited edition of 500 copies].

Hesterberg, William. (editor) A Frail Memorial. Being selections from the writings and engravings of Thomas Bewick. Chicago Cherryburn Press (1975).
Contains writings from Bewick’s Memoir, two letters, and notations that he and his daughter made in two 1821 volumes of British Birds.

Return to Cherryburn. the life and work of Thomas Bewick (1753-1828). with new poems by the Tyneside Poets. and photographs by Alan C. Brown and Tony Whittle. supplemented by original material. edited by Keith Armstrong. design by Peter Dixon.
Tyneside Poets, Brown. Alan C., Whittle. Tony, . Keith Armstrong,
189 Stamfordham Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne 5. The Poets. 1978[Note: Includes selections from Bewick’s own writings and engravings.]

Bewick Walks To Scotland, Poetry by Sally Evans (2004) Arrowhead Press, Darlington.

See http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/bewick.html.

"Learned and sensuous at the same time, her poetry achieves rhythmic precision while leaving room for spontaneity." Christopher Whyte.

Angels Playing Football, Newcastle Poems by Keith Armstrong, (2006) Northern Voices, Whitley Bay.

 

Bewick in the Nineteenth Century (back to top)

1805  Arthur Aikin, Annual review for 1804, iii, 733: notice of Bewick.

1820  A Catalogue of Books, now on sale by Emerson Charnley ... including ... works printed at Strawberry Hill, works of Thomas Bewick, &c. &c. Emerson Charnley, Newcastle, 1820.

1822  Dr. Charles Hutton, ‘Some Account of Mr. Thomas Bewick and other artists in Newcastle-upon-Tyne,’ The Newcastle Magazine, June, 1822.

1825  Professor Wilson, ‘Thomas Bewick, Engraver on Wood,’ Blackwood’s Magazine, July, 1825.

1827 Bewick is among the artists discussed in the first major text on the artists of Newcastle. E.Mackenzie, History of Newcastle, Newcastle, 1827. Local artists are given extensive treatment in a lengthy footnote beginning on p.574.

1829-30  J.F.M. Dovaston, ‘Some Account of the Life, Genius and Personal Habits of the late Thomas Bewick,’ Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, 9, 12, 1829-30.

1830 Robert Pollard, ‘A Biographical Sketch of Three Newcastle-upon-Tyne Apprentices’ Newcastle Magazine.

1831 G.C Atkinson, ‘Sketch of the Life and Works of the Late Thomas Bewick,’ Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, i. 1831, read before the Society in June, 1830.

1831-5  J.J. Audubon started publishing his Ornithological Biography which includes an account of meeting Bewick in volume 3, appearing in 1835, at pp.300-304.

1836 William Turner Memoir of Thomas Bewick, etc. [The Naturalist’s Library. vol. 18.] Minister at Hanover Square Chapel, Newcastle-upon-Tyne [Notes: In Selby (P. J.) The Natural History of Parrots. 1836].

1838 William Howitt, The Rural life of England, on ‘the very Burns of wood-carving’.

1839 W.A. Chatto and J. Jackson, A Treatise on Wood Engraving, Chap VII includes Bewick. The text was all written by Chatto and the wood engraved illustrations were all done by Jackson. The second edition of this book was published in 1861 with a lot of extra material by Henry G. Bohn and 145 additional wood engravings.

1845  Thomas Doubleday, ‘Life and Works of Bewick,’ British Quarterly Review, ii, 4, 1845.

1846  William Howitt, ‘Memoir of Thomas Bewick,’ Howitt’s Journal, ii, 38.

1847  Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Jane reads from British Birds in Chapter One of the novel.

1851  John Gray Bell, Catalogue of Works Illustrated by Thomas and John Bewick, London, 1851.

1862  Bewick’s Memoir published [see the first section of this Select Bibliography.]

1865  Thomas Dixon, the Sunderland cork-cutter (secretary and initiator of Sunderland’s first School of Art, correspondent of John Ruskin and many others) was an admirer of Bewick’s work. Dixon bought and sold Bewick prints and editions (see Letters to Pearson, Tyne and Wear Archive). He sent copies of Bewick volumes to both Carlyle and Ruskin: see letter in Ruskin’s Works. vol.18, p.lxxii, dated 20th December 1865, in which Carlyle, although complaining of Dixon’s attentions, nevertheless admits to having read the Bewick memoir in an evening. ("Peace to Bewick : not a great man at all, but a very true of his sort" [sic])

1866  Reverend Thomas Hugo The Bewick Collector: A Descriptive Catalogue of the works of Thomas and John Bewick (London 1866, supplement 1868); this first edition was reprinted photographically in 1970, in the United States, by Burt Franklin of New York.

1868  Catalogue of Edwin Pearson’s Collection (London 1868);

1870  Reverend Thomas Hugo Bewick’s Woodcuts: impressions of upwards of two thousand wood-blocks, engraved for the most part, by Thomas and John Bewick (100 copies).

1872  John Ruskin, Ariadne Florentina, Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving given before the University of Oxford in Michaelmas Term, 1872, London 1890, p. 247 (lectures delivered 1872, published for the first time in 1876)  Ruskin also mentions Bewick in Aratra Pentelici, 1872.

1877 “Catalogue of a valuable and unique Collection of Books, illustrated by Thomas and John Bewick... collected during a period of nearly thirty years by Thomas Miller Whitehead; sold by auction by Christie Manson and Woods, June 25, 1877.”

1877 “Catalogue of the choice and valuable collection of Books, wood Engravings, and engraved woodcut Blocks... relating to Thomas & John Bewick and their Pupils, gleaned from every available source by the late Rev Thomas Hugo... sold by ... Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge ...on 8TH & 9TH August 1877.”

1881  Frederic George Stephens, Notes on a collection of drawings and woodcuts by Thomas Bewick exhibited at the Fine Art Society’s rooms, 1880. also a complete list of all works illustrated by Thomas and John Bewick, with their various editions. (London, 1881).

1882  David Croal Thomson, The Life and Works of Thomas Bewick, being an account of his career and achievements in art, with a notice of the works of John Bewick. With one hundred illustrations.   The Art Journal Office: London, 1882. Note: Only 75 copies printed.

1883 Ten folio volumes of Bewick blocks printed by Ward of Newcastle. (12 copies only) : also “Bewick’s Copper Plate Engravings.”

1884  Henry Austin Dobson, Thomas Bewick and his pupils ... With ... illustrations. Chatto & Windus: London, 1884.

1884   Isabella Ward Bewick, Catalogue of a Scarce and Curious Collection of Books & Engravings formerly belonging to Thomas Bewick. (By order of the executors of Miss Bewick, deceased.) To be sold by auction ... February 5th, 6th, and 7th, 1884 ... by Messrs. Davison & Son, etc. [With plates.]  Newcastle, (1884). [Notes: The British Library has the auctioneer’s copy, interleaved, with the names of purchasers and prices added in MS. With two MS. letters inserted].

1885   Chesneau E. The English School of Painting 1st ed 1885, 4th ed 1891

1885-7 Austin Dobson (editor)  Five volume Memorial Edition of Bewick Works published by Robert Ward and Son, Newcastle.[Note: Iain Bain affirms the generally acknowledged view that this is ‘the best printed source’ for Bewick’s engravings (p.12 of his edition of Thomas Bewick My Life).]

1886 Bewick Gleanings, being impressions from Copperplates and Wood Blocks engraved in the Bewick Workshop, remaining in he possession of the Family until the death of the last Miss Bewick Julia Boyd (Newcastle 1886).

1887  Robert Robinson, Thomas Bewick, His Life and Times, Newcastle, 1887.

1887  Hancock, J.,  ‘Letter to James Hardy’, History of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, 11:216 (1887). [Transcription of letter. Includes a reminiscence about the last surviving person to have shaken the hand of TB.]

1888  George Skelly, ‘The life of Thomas Bewick’ ... A lecture delivered at the Alnwick Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, on Wednesday, January 4th, 1888. Printed by the Alnwick and County Gazette and Steam Printing Co., Alnwick,1888.

1889   Linton W.J., The Masters of Wood-Engraving, Newhaven, Connecticut and London.

Includes a chapter on the life and work of Thomas Bewick. (Linton was the founding engraver of the Illustrated London News, the first illustrated weekly newspaper, using the Bewick methods of engraving on wood. As a practitioner his judgements on Bewick are especially interesting. One hundred copies of this edition were published in large format [crown folio: 20” x 15”], with a further 500 in standard format.)

1890 “Catalogue of the very extensive and valuable collection of books forming the library of the late TWU Robinson, esq of Hardwick Hall in the County of Durham.. sold by ... R & W Mack at 73 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 24th-28th February 1890,” Newcastle, J.Bell.

1892 “Catalogue of Miss Julia Boyd’s collection, sold by Davison and Son at the Academy of Arts, Newcastle upon Tyne, October 1892.”

1894  Knowles, W.H. ‘The old ‘Fox and Lamb’ public house, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, ’Archaeologia Aeliana, Series 2, 16:373-378 (1894). [Includes a description quoted from the eyewitness, Robert Blakey, of Bewick’s drinking habits at the Fox and Lamb, and several illustrations of the pub.]

1894  Catalogue of the valuable Books, Silver and Water-Colour Sketches, belonging to the late J.W. Barnes Esq., F.S.A. of the Bank Durham ... Messrs R. & W. Mack auctioneers.. to sell by auction .. May 10th &11th 1894 at the Art Gallery, Grainger Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

1898  Thomas Hodgkin, Robert Spence Watson, R. Oliver Heslop, Richard Welford, On Northumbrian History, Literature, And Art, Lectures Delivered to the Literary And Philosophical Society, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 1898, makes passing reference to Bewick as an important reference point for the artists of the day.

 

Dr. Peter Quinn © 2008

with thanks to Dr David Gardner-Medwin and DWS Gray for suggested additions.

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