Select Fables: With Cuts Designed and Engraved from Thomas and John Bewick and Others, Previous to the Year 1784: Together with a Memoir and a Descriptive Catalogue of the Works of Messrs. Bewick

London: Emerson Charnley, and Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1820. Hardcover. Very Good. Nicholson, Isaac [1789-1848]. 5.5 x 8.5 Inches. Contemporary calf re-backed with newer spine, raised bands. Inner edges dentelle. xl, 332 p.p. Frontispiece of Thomas Bewick, with several head and tail-piece woodcut engravings. Armorial ex libris bookplate of I.G. Schorsch. Boards scratched and rubbed, with circular stains to rear. Small chips to calf at head of front and rear joints. Corners slightly bumped, with heavy wear. Rubbing to bottom edges, where dentelle is faded. Light offsetting from engravings, with sporadic foxing. Some trimming, but text unaffected. Stain to edges of facing pages 124-125. Frontis and title page heavily foxed, but otherwise in very good condition. Thomas Bewick [1753-1828] was an engraver and illustrator, well known for his use of wood engravings. In 1784, him and his brother John were employed by local printer "to engrave a number of woodcuts, for different publications in which he was engaged. Many of them were inserted in...a volume entitled 'Select Fables' in 1784...These cuts...engraved my Messrs. Berwick were afterwards purchased by Hall and Elliott, the printers of the Newcastle Courant Newspaper...after remaining with them for several years, was sold to Messrs. Wilson, of York, printers who had in their collection various other cuts...by the Bewicks...Thus accumulated, amounting to upwards of twelve hundred in number, was offered to, and bought by, the publisher of the present volume." [Advertisement, i-ii]. Many of the tailpieces in the book were also done by wood engraver and illustrator Isaac Nicholson [1789-1848], a former apprentice of Bewick's. Each fable is followed by a reflection and lesson.