62 
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 
[BEWICK 
History of British Birds that bears his name, and the text 
of the work contains little of originality or importance, its 
great popularity arising solely from the brilliance and fidelity 
of the woodcuts. He was born in August 1753 at his 
father’s house of Cherryburn, near Eltringham, in Northum- 
berland, and having at a very early age developed a taste 
for drawing, was apprenticed at fourteen to Ralph Beilby, 
a Newcastle engraver. Under Beilby’ s tuition he soon 
began to excel as an engraver, and was entrusted with the 
execution of woodcuts, a branch for which Beilby had no 
liking, but which became a great success in the hands of 
Bewick. In 1774 his apprenticeship came to an end, and he 
commenced to work on his own account, chiefly for Newcastle 
printers. In 1790 he published his History of Quadrupeds, 
which proved so great a success that he began to turn his 
thoughts to a history of British birds. Beilby, who had 
provided the text for the Quadrupeds , undertook the com- 
pilation of the text, but a quarrel as to who should have 
the credit of the authorship led to dissolution of partnership 
in it after the publication of the first volume, and Bewick 
composed the text of the Water-Birds himself. In the 
Preface, however, he acknowledges his obligations to the 
Rev. H. Coates, the vicar of Bedlington, for “ literary cor- 
rections.” The first edition was printed on paper of three 
different sizes, viz. imperial, royal, and demy 8vo, that of 
the latter size being of two qualities, thick and thin. The 
publishing prices were 21s., 18s., 13s., and 10s. 6d. respectively, 
and of the imperial paper copies (of the first issue) only 
twenty-four were printed. The prices of the second volume 
were 24s., 18s., and 12s. 
The success of the History of British Birds was immediate 
and complete ; six editions were issued in Bewick’s lifetime, 
and in the year 1847 an eighth, edited by John Hancock 
with great skill, and containing some twenty extra tail- 
pieces, which Bewick had executed for a projected History 
of British Fishes , appeared, this edition being in many 
respects the best. The Birds marked Bewick’s high-water 
