Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$96.62 + shipping
Description: 8vo. contemporary ½-roan over marbled boards - boards rubbed. tears in three pages. some staining and marking throughout. without the called-for frontispiece portrait, but with the four portraits of Thomas Bewick and all the other woodcut illustrations.
Seller: McLaren Books Ltd., ABA(associate), PBFA, Largs, United Kingdom
Price: US$193.24 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First thus. Octavo. Xl, 332pp. Wood-cut illustrations. Bound in full calf, gilt. Some rubbing to extremities. Marginal browning to end papers. Former owner bookplate. Small stain to head of pages 233-241, not impacting the text. Otherwise a 'VG+' copy. Small gilt crest and text to upper portion of spine - reads: "Tannachy". This is presumably referring to Tannachy House (now Invererne House, Moray) of the Grant-Peterkin family as opposed to the small Hamlet in the Highlands. The bookplate inside is unrelated and belonged to another former owner.
Seller: Kerr & Sons Booksellers ABA, Cartmel, CMA, United Kingdom
Price: US$193.24 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Frontispiece with damp stain to top section. Some light damp marking in places throughout book, generally not very noticeable. Some foxing in places. Generally a good clean copy.Bound in a contemporaryHalf calf with marbled boards. Top of spine and corners very slightly rubbed and chipped. Front hinge slightly cracked, but sound and still firmly attached. Else very good attractive copy in original condition. 332 p.
Seller: James Hine, Ilminster, SOMER, United Kingdom
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Leather spine and corners Pebbled boards. leather is lightly rubbed along edges. Marbled front and back end papers. Small book plate on inside front cover. Fore edges marbled. 332pp. Content clean bright and sound. Pencil notes by previous owner on inside front end paper and front flyleaf.
Seller: Old Favorites Bookshop LTD (since 1954), Stouffville, ON, Canada
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Portrait frotispiece of Thomas Bewick colored by hand, and woodcuts by Thomas and john Bewick, (mostly) hand colored. xl, 332 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. With the Engravings Colored. Hugo 428; Gumuchian 613; Osborne I, 7 Early boards, rebacked with later cloth and recased with later endpaper; corners chipped Portrait frotispiece of Thomas Bewick colored by hand, and woodcuts by Thomas and john Bewick, (mostly) hand colored. xl, 332 pp. 1 vols. 8vo
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$257.65 + shipping
Description: First edition. A nice copy of this collection of fables with the attractive Bewick engravings. Frontis portrait of Thomas Bewick, title with engraved vignette. Half leather with marbled boards and gilt titles to spine. Slight rubbing to the edges. of the binding. Internally clean and tidy, with just a little darkening to the page edges. [4]; xl; 332 pp. 225 x 145 mm (8¾ x 5¾ inches).
Seller: Harrison-Hiett Rare Books, Richelieu, France
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Description: First edition thus, with preface dated 1820. 8vo, contemporary boards, rebacked some time ago and front hinge recently professionally refurbished. Spine with six compartments and two labels, nicely detailed, although in a somewhat later style. Bookplate of the eminent collector Boies Penrose II on the front pastedown and second bookplate of George & Laura Gifford on the front free endpaper. Rectangular rules around edges of boards, all edges marbled with matching marbled endpapers, edges of boards with fine minute marquetry-like decoration. Two early bookseller's labels on front pastedown endpaper, first one (presumably) from Matthews & Co., Bradford, and second one from Willis & Sotheran, London. The recent book "The Art of Thomas Bewick" by Diana Donald launched a reevaluation of Bewick, seeing him as an innovator within the framework of the age of invention. The book was reviewed in The New York Review of Books under the heading "England's Great Neglected Artist" in October, 2015.
Seller: Alexanderplatz Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$322.07 + shipping
Description: First edition. Quarto. pp xxx, 332. Wood engravings on almost every page. Period binding by T. Sowler, Manchester, of quarter green leather with raised bands, gilt decoration and rules, green cloth sides, top edge gilt. A bit of spotting here and there. Front inner hinge cracking. Front joint splitting. Covers rubbed and marked. Good, internally very good indeed.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$495.00 + shipping
Description: 332 pages. 21.5 x 14 cm. Illustrated wood engraved frontispiece Thomas Bewick,336 wood engraved vignettes by the Bewicks. GORDON N. RAY 52: notes "Bewick deplored this well-produced volume, which to his mind could only serve `to feed the whimsies of bibliomanists,' but he tolerated its publication. Though some of the engravings hardly rise above chapbook level (a number of them are copies), the book is useful as a record of his work before he achieved his mature style." Basically clean throughout save for some toning to first few and last leaves. Raised bands, spines panels decorated in gilt floral motifs, gilt cover border panels. Armorial bookplate of Samuel Harford Samuels and modern one of William Tarum Fehsenfeld. Contemporary tree calf, red leather spine label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. Fine
Seller: Royoung Bookseller, Inc. ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$640.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: rebound in full leather, probably modern rebinding but quite nice contents clean and complete. Language: eng Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng Language: eng Language: eng Language: eng
Seller: Ian Thompson, Milton, ON, Canada
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Description: xl, 332 pp. Illustrated throughout from wood-engraved vignettes. 8vo, old full crimson straight-grain morocco gilt; gilt spine; a.e.g. First edition. Contents very fine. A few minor scuffs to the handsome binding; a very attractive copy.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$921.11 + shipping
Description: Front., vignette title, illus. WITH: A General History of Quadrupeds. 7th edn. Newcastle: printed by Edw. Walker, for T. Bewick. 1820. Vignette title, illus. WITH: A History of British Birds. 2 vols. Newcastle: printed by Edward Walker, for T. Bewick. 1821. Vignette title, illus. All three titles are nice clean copies. 4 vols., uniformly bound in contemp. half green calf by J. Winstanley, Manchester, faded gilt spine, later red morocco labels; sl. rubbed, corners bumped. An attractive set. Tattersfield TB 2.576, TB1.8 & TB1.22 noting that this is the first edition of British Birds to include the supplement which appears in two sections, separately paginated at the end of each volume. A fine set of three of Bewick's most notable works.
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A UNIFORMLY BOUND SET OF FOUR OF THOMAS BEWICK'S BEST KNOWN WORKS: BEWICK'S BRITISH BIRDS 2 Volumes; BEWICK'S FABLES OF AESOP; BEWICK'S HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS; BEWICK'S SELECT FABLES?As titled on the Spines. Five Volumes, in all. Newcastle: Printed by Edward Walker, For T. Bewick, 1820-1824. Various editions. Each volume illustrated with many text wood engravings by Bewick and others. Half chocolate toned calf, spine in six compartments with raised bands, red and brown contrasting labels, decorated in gilt. Over all a very good, very presentable set. Very clean within. The Two Volumes: A HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS (The Figures Engraved on Wood by T. Bewick) are comprised of: Vol. I. CONTAINING THE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF LAND BIRDS; And a Supplement, with Additional Figures. Newcastle: Printed by Edward Walker, For T. Bewick,1821. Xl + 330pp + 47pp (Supplement). Vol. II. CONTAINING THE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF WATER BIRDS. And a Supplement, with Additional Figures Newcastle: Printed by Edward Walker, For T. Bewick,1821. Xxii + 360pp + 44pp (Supplement). Short closed tear to bottom area of one leaf in the Supplement. Vol. III. THE FABLES OF AESOP, and Others, with Designs on Wood by T. Bewick. The second edition. Newcastle: Printed by E. Walker, For T. Bewick and Son, 1823. Xxiv + 376pp. Vol. VI. A GENERAL HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. The Figures Engraved on Wood by T. Bewick. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Printed by EDW. Walker, For T. Bewick and Son, 1824. The eighth edition. X + 526pp. Small chip out of top edge of Index page, not affecting text. Vol. V. SELECT FABLES; with Cuts, Designed and Engraved by 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. Newcastle: Printed by S. Hodgson, For Emerson Charnley, and Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, London,1820. Xl + 332pp. OVERALL A VERY PLEASING SET. EXTRA POSTAGE REQUIRED.
Seller: Bjarne Tokerud Bookseller, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Price: US$3607.14 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION. Quarto. Royal thick paper copy. [2], xl, 332 pp. Engraved portrait frontispiece of Thomas Bewick, vignette to title page and quartet of portraits of Bewick to pp. xxvi-xxxi; illustrated throughout with engraved head and tail-pieces. Superb full bottle-green levant morocco bound by Riviere, with five raised bands, gilt titles to spine, heavy gilt foliate decoration to compartments, and triple gilt-ruled border to boards with embellished corners and central gilt floral cartouche. All edges gilt; marbled endpapers and gilt dentelles. Boards very slightly scuffed. Armorial bookplates of Lord Battersea and the Duke of Gloucester, to front paste-down and ffep respectively. Scattered light foxing, mainly to endpapers, otherwise contents are crisp. A handsome copy in excellent condition. Companion volume to Fables of Aesop, produced by Emerson Charnley from blocks he purchased from Thomas Wilson of York, with no input from the engraver. "Mr Bewick has no concern or interest whatever in the work submitted by the public" and though he accepted a copy for his own library following some acrimonious correspondence, the work was far from satisfactory to Bewick himself. This is an outstanding copy in a superb binding, with the added provenance of being from the library of Prince Henry of Gloucester. Prince Henry (1900-1974) was the third son of King George V and Queen Mary, and the younger brother of Kings Edward VIII and George VI. Tattersfield, Nigel: Thomas Bewick The Complete Illustrative Work, pp., 622-5.
Seller: Keel Row Bookshop Ltd - ABA, ILAB & PBFA, Whitley Bay, United Kingdom
Price: US$3640.00 + shipping
Description: 278 x 174 mm. (10 7/8 x 6 3/4"). 1 p.l., xl, 332 pp. HANDSOME LATE 19TH CENTURY DEEP PURPLE MOROCCO, ELABORATELY GILT, BY TOUT (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in), covers with gilt-ruled border and scrolling foliate corner decoration, raised bands, spine compartments with elaborate gilt scrolled tooling surrounding a central flower motif, gilt lettering, thick turn-ins with multiple gilt rules, rolls, and scrolling, all edges gilt. Frontispiece portrait of Thomas Bewick and NEARLY 350 WOOD ENGRAVED VIGNETTES BY JOHN AND THOMAS BEWICK. Front free endpaper with book label of Archer Ryland, dated 1942 in pencil, and an old catalogue cutting tipped on. Ray, England, 52; Hugo 428; Lowndes I, 168. âLower corners very slightly bumped, a hint of wear to extremities, contents with occasional faint offsetting and trivial marginal imperfections, one leaf with marginal tear expertly repaired, but all of these issues quite minor, and on the whole IN VERY FINE CONDITION INSIDE AND OUT, the paper clean and bright, the margins immense, and the binding lustrous. This is a beautifully bound work that features some of the earliest wood engravings executed by an artist often referred to as "the father of modern wood engraving." Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) was engaged at the tender age of 14 as an apprentice to the Newcastle wood engraver Beilby, and according to Bewick's own memoirs, he spent much of his seven-year apprenticeship designing and cutting illustrations on wood for fables by Aesop, Gay, and others. These woodblocks were acquired by the publisher Thomas Saint, and they served to illustrate four fable books published by him at Newcastle in 1775, 1776, 1779, and 1784. These Newcastle publications are very difficult to acquire today and were already scarce by 1820. While Bewick himself went on to publish in his mature years an illustrated "Fables" with new cuts, the woodblocks from his youth (which include some done by Bewick's brother John) were bought up, first by a Newcastle newspaper, then by a York printer, and finally by Sarah Hodgson, the widow of a former partner of Bewick. These youthful productions of Bewick, which have extraordinary charm, reappear here with considerable success, especially in the oversize format of our copy. They are less complicated than the illustrations of his 1818 "Fables," but they have wonderful clarity, not a few touches of humor, and an excellent sense of composition. In addition, the book contains several woodcut portraits of Thomas and John, as well as a memoir of their careers and a limited catalogue of the works illustrated by them. The paper employed in the present book seems just slightly thicker and brighter than that used in the other luxury Bewick volumes. Our handsome binding is a credit to the Tout workshop, which turned out consistently fine work and was especially notable for its elaborate gilt tooling, as seen here.
Seller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.