Bookplates by Beilby and Bewick: A Biographical Dictionary of Bookplates from the Workshop of Ralph Beilby, Thomas Bewick and Robert Bewick, 1760 - 1849.

London: British Library / Oak Knoll Press, 1999. Hardback large octavo, dustjacket, very good condition (in very good dustjacket), black & white drawings (engravings), frontispiece portrait, few tiny foxed spots page edges. Heavy (1.2 Kg), and extra postage may be requested to destinations outside Australia. 352 pp. Nigel Tattersfield has compiled this biographical dictionary of the several hundred bookplates, engraved on copper and wood, executed and printed in the workshop of Thomas Bewick over a period of 89 years. This book is the the most extensive and thorough in its use of primary sources. Lively enthusiasm and careful scholarship have combined to produce a valuable and truly pioneering work on a subject hitherto clouded by speculation and optimistic attribution. More broadly, the spare-time production by Thomas Bewick of his celebrated natural histories was supported by the vigorous activity of a general engraving business involving Bewick, his partner Ralph Beilby and numerous apprentices. The workshop's surviving records are unique in their diversity and quantity, revealing a vast range of work, from banknotes and inscriptions on silver, to the making of type punches and bottle moulds. These records have been used in the study of engraved silver, pottery transfers and the preparatory studies for Bewick's wood engravings. Very fully illustrated, with over 300 examples reproduced, and its wealth of biographical information on the owners of the bookplates represents an important contribution to the social history of the north of England.