Thomas Bewick (1753–1828)

Largely entertaining. Particularly interesting are the descriptions of Newcastle before the industrial revolution and Scotland before the clearances. Bewick comes across as a naïve, thoughtful man who’s not afraid to give his opinions. Some of these do him credit. Others do not. As usual with autobiographies it’s fun to try and guess what the author is lying about. I suspect he was rather more violent in his youth than he lets on. Also, he talks about beer rather a lot for a man who claims rarely to drink. The second half of the book is marred by him dropping the narrative and holding forth on various subjects. Some of this is interesting, but on the whole need only be read by someone writing their own autobiography as an example of what not to do.

The Centaur Press edition is nice. A well made book with nice type on good, thick paper. Idiosyncratic margins. The 60s dust cover must be seen to be believed. It doesn’t have some of the supporting matter from the first edition, but does have many of Bewick’s prints added at the end of some of the chapters. The prints of the fish have been dropped for a selection of animals from Quadrupeds and Birds.… (altro)