Why it matters

Bewick's first major book put his wood engraving in front of a wide audience and made the medium a serious vehicle for natural history illustration, with the animal figures cut by Bewick and the descriptive text drafted by his partner Ralph Beilby and revised by Bewick. It was commercially successful on a scale unusual for a provincial Newcastle imprint, running to seven editions and some 14,000 copies, which is why the 1790 first is the edition collectors chase.

Why we're looking

A 1790 first edition in contemporary gilt calf with all edges gilt at $750 is an attractive-sounding ask for a landmark of English book illustration, and the imprint quoted in the listing matches the true first. However, the one directly comparable copy we found — Douglas Stewart Fine Books' first edition in contemporary speckled calf — carried no price in the indexed search result, and no realized auction price surfaced, so relative value here is unconfirmed.

Watch out for

The seller discloses detached boards and occasional spotting; detached boards on contemporary calf mean rebacking or a box is likely needed, and that cost should be priced in. The listing gives no pagination, engraving count, or statement of completeness — a dealer description of another 1790 first collates pp. viii, 456, so it is worth asking this seller to confirm pagination and that all text engravings and vignettes are present. Later Newcastle editions (1791, 1792, 1800, 1807, 1811) are common and frequently described loosely, so ask for a photograph of the title page and imprint before bidding.