Bewick Gleanings. Edited, with Notes, by Julia Boyd. (Andrew Reid.) — This
handsome volume, published both in large-paper and
small-paper copies, contains what the editor calls the "gleanings,"
or "aftermath," of the Bewick workshop. The" Memorial Edition" of Thomas Bewick's works, still in course of publication, is the
principal harvest ; but the remainder has considerable interest. The fact is that a number of blocks were, from various causes, left in the hands of Bewick's daughters. One of these ladies died in 1881, the other two years afterwards ; and after the decease of the latter, all that had not been given away or bequeathed were sold, and came then, or very soon afterwards, into the hands of the editor. Many of the engravings (which number many hundreds) are, as the editor frankly acknowledges, the work of Bewick's various pupil& His son, Robert Elliott Bewick, is represented by some examples; and many, doubt- less, are wholly executed by the great engraver's own hand, or have at least received his final tenches. Among the miscellanea are plates for bank-notes, heraldic bearings, invitation cards, &c., some of them admirable specimens of their kind. The volume is enriched by a beautiful etching by Mr. C. 0. Murray, from Bamsay's picture of "The Lost Child." It contains a very characteristic portrait of Bewick, which the etcher has transferred with great success to his plate. The original, however, seems to have the defect of not giving an adequate idea of Bewick's height. He certainly looks like a man of small stature, though he was little less than six feet high. There are two other portraits, both by Ramsay,—one almost a fac-simile of that in the picture, the other, to our eyes, curiously different. There is also a fac-simile of Bewick's great work, "The Chillingbam Bull" (with an interesting account of the plate and its history), and engravings of the artist's burial-place, &c. Miss Boyd has added a good memoir, and sketches of the lives and careers of Bewick's chief pupils. Her volume is sumptuous in appearance and beautifully printed.
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