Thomas Bewick: Graphic Worlds

Every purchase supports the British Museum A book exploring the artwork of Thomas Bewick (1753–1828), an English wood engraver, focusing on commercial work that he produced such as advertisements Thomas Bewick's illustrations of plants and animals have dramatically influenced the development of the illustrated book both in Britain and America Although he is widely presented as a natural history artist (in the traditional sense), Bewick's wood engraving workshop was a business catering for the demands of local customers, from the gentry who wanted crests on silver cutlery to clockmakers who needed engraved dials This book reinstates Thomas Bewick in the world of trade and material culture, revealing his long- forgotten contribution to the development of what we would now call graphic design