14.2 Mr. Atkinson's Sketch of the late T. BewicJc. 



In 1800, five hundred copies of the Land Birds were printed by 

 Hodgson, price 12s. on octavo, without the letter-press, but having 

 the tail piece which had been affixed to the birds in the previous edi- 

 tion, on the same page below the bird ; this edition did not sell well, 

 and the second volume was not printed ; and in 1817, twenty-five co- 

 pies of the British Birds and a few Foreign Birds, were printed on 

 4to. paper, £2. Qs. in sheets, by Walker. In the following year, the 

 same number of copies of the Quadrupeds were struck off at the same 

 pi'ice. These 4to. copies do not contain any letter-press, and partly 

 owing to that circumstance which allows of exclusive attention to fine 

 impressions, and partly to the improvement in the mode of printing, 

 they are incredibly superior to any others. It is a mistaken though 

 rather prevalent idea, that wood blocks being of a softer nature than 

 plates of copper or steel, will wear out sooner, and not afford so many 

 impressions ; and that therefore the first editions of works containing 

 wood cuts, must be superior to those of a later date ; but it must be 

 observed that a wood cut will print an infinitely greater number of co- 

 pies than either steel or copper, from the destructive method employed 

 in cleaning the latter, which the printer is obliged to do at every im- 

 pression, by rubbing it with whiting. This of course very soon wears 

 down the sharper parts of the plate, and in course of time renders it 

 necessary to retouch it, a proceeding, which, in the opinion of connois- 

 seurs, matei'ially diminishes the value of subsequent impressions. A 

 copperplate will afford from one hundred and fifty to seven or eight 

 hundred copies, more or less, according to the fineness of the engraving 

 and the hardness of the plate ; those in line giving more than those in 

 mezzotinto, and those in mezzotinto more than aquatinta. A steel 

 plate will give often from six to ten thousand impressions. 



Engravings on wood (technically termed cuts) are usually made on 

 box-wood, used the end-way of the grain ; they require no cleaning, ex- 

 cept a very slight application of alkali when they get clogged with 

 ink, a case which does not soon happen where it is only pressed on 

 the prominent parts with a printer's ball, and not rubbed into the cavi- 

 ties, as in copper. 



