num_pages: 480
description: A beautifully illustrated biography of Thomas Bewick (1753-1828), the man whose art helped shape the way we view the natural worldAt the end of the eighteenth century, Britain, and much of the Western world, fell in love with nature. Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds marked the moment, the first "field guide" for ordinary people, illustrated with woodcuts of astonishing accuracy and beauty. But his work was far more than a mere guide, for in the vivid vignettes scattered through the book, Bewick captured the vanishing world of rural English life.In this superb biography, Jenny Uglow tells the story of the farmer's son from Tyneside who influenced book illustration for a century to come. It is a story of violent change, radical politics, lost ways of life, and the beauty of the wild -- a journey to the beginning of our lasting obsession with the natural world.
language: English
title: Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick
titlecomplete: Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick
genres: Art History, Biography, Nature, British Literature, Natural History, Science, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Art, History
ratings_count: 185
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Marfield Prize (National Award for Arts Writing)
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux