1800 Woodcuts by Thomas Bewick and His School (The Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

xiv, 247 pp. The woodcut of Thomas Bewick (1752-1828) has become widely accepted as part of our general cultural background. In addition to its technical profiency and simple beauty, it is remarkable as a mode of pictorial symbolism. It not only conveys an illustration, it also carries a mood: rustic tranquillity, and an atmosphere of rest, simplicity, and contentment. This volume, which has been prepared by the editorial staff of Dover Publications, is the largest collection of Bewick woodcuts ever compiled. It contains the complete engravings from all the major Bewick works - the General History of Quadrupeds, the History of British Birds, the Cries of London, Aesop's Fables, and the Poetry of Robert Burns - and an extremely wide range of illustrations from his less well-known work. Classified index follows text.