George Clayton Atkinson’s Biography of Thomas Bewick
In March 2006, a set of Bewick’s works belonging to G C Atkinson came up for auction in Newcastle. They were acquired by the Natural History Society of Northumbria, in whose care they will now remain permanently. Thomas Bewick’s young friend, George Clayton Atkinson, was the first to attempt a biography of the artist and engraver who is the main focus and raison d’être for the Bewick Society. He read his ‘Sketch of the Life and Works of the late Thomas Bewick’ to the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham on 15th June, 1830, just over 19 months after Bewick had died at Gateshead in November, 1828. Published in print, in 1831, it amounted to twenty-seven pages in the first volume of the Transactions of the Natural History Society.
The volumes acquired by the Natural History Society included a manuscript first draft of the ‘Sketch’. The existence of this manuscript version had not been known of, or even suspected, by Bewick scholars and specialists, so this discovery caused some excitement. Taking up the offer from David Gardner–Medwin to edit and introduce this new text, basing his study on a close comparison between the published ‘Sketch’ and this newly available ‘Draft’, the Bewick Society has now published in the Cherryburn Times the text of the Draft with some extensive introductory material. For this purpose, the Cherryburn Times Special Edition 2007 needed sixteen pages instead of the usual eight pages. (This is available in pdf through the website.) For further information click here.
The Cherryburn Times as the Journal of the Bewick Society
Readers of the Cherryburn Times will have noticed that the Special Edition of Summer, 2007, has an amended masthead. It is no longer the Newsletter of the Society, but the Journal. This reflects the present situation where the Newsletter of the Society is published separately according to the needs of its current programme. leaving the Journal as the forum of articles of general interest to our members and others, often with illustrations of good quality reproduction. For further information click the link here.
The Bewick Society
The aim of the Bewick Society is to promote an interest in the life and work of Thomas Bewick and related subjects, especially with regard to wood-engraving. The Society publishes a journal called the Cherryburn Times, normally twice a year. This provides a forum for the activities of the Society and keeps members informed about the latest research into the life and work of Bewick and his apprentices. Members publish articles about their own special interests where relevant to the Society. The Society also arranges visits to special collections, some of which are not normally open to the general public. It encourages the development of facilities for conservation and display of Bewick related materials, including wood-engraving as practised by those following in Bewick’s footsteps.
Cherryburn Cottage
Membership of the Society also gives free admission to the museum at Cherryburn, where Thomas Bewick was born, now in the care of the National Trust.
More information can be found on this page at the National Trust website.