Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/914

 NINETEENTH CENTURY.

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took place, so that its compilation and comple- tion derolred on Mr. Bewick alone, writb the assistance of a literary friend. In 1818, Mr. Bewick published the Fables of JEiop, and two or three years afterwards, a volume of Select Fables, the wood-cuts beinpf a selection from the earlier works of the Bewicks. The public were thus enabled to study the gradual advancement towards e:icellence which had been made by the revivers of this elegant and useful art. The DDOiber of blocks engraved by the Bewicks is almost inconceivable, and it is impossible to par- ticularise the various works whicn were embel- lished by Thomas Bewick and his pupils, of whom he had a continued succession. Some of these have done him great honour, and contri- buted to carry the art of xylography to a state of perfection at which be himself confessed he never supposed it was capable of arriving. It is is almost unnecessary to mention the names of Nesbett, and above tul of William Harvey.* In a Memoir it is stated, that " Mr.Bewict's personal appearance was rustic. He was tall and powerfully formed, a quality he was fond of displaying in his prime. His manners were somewhat rustic too, but he was shrewd, and dis- • dained to ape the gentleman. His countenance was open and expressive, with a capacious fore- head, strongly indicating intellect — ^nis dark eyes beamed with the fire of genius. He was a man of strong passions — sti;ong in his affections, and strong m his dislikes. The latter sometimes exposed bim to the charge of illiberality, but the former and kinder feelings predominated. — Stronglv honourable was he in all his dealings ; and to bis friends there never was a more sin- cere or a kinder hearted man than Thomas Bewick." He was succeeded in the business by his son, Mr. R. E. Bewick.t

1828, Nov. 28. Died, Miller Ritchie, who was justly considered the father of English fine printing, aged seventy-seven years. BaskerviUe succeeded in producing a type of superior elegance, and an ink which gave peculiar lustre to impressions from bis type. The novel and unusual excellence which his works presented gave a stimulus to the exertions, and drew forth the emulation of manv of our countrymen. The first who started in this novel course was Mr. Miller Ritchie, a native of Scotland. About 1785 he carried on business in Albion-buildings, Bartholomew Close. An edition of the classics in royal octavo, consisting of the works of Sallust, Plinv, Tacitus, Q. Curtius, Ciesar, and Livy, was the work upon which this leading

the reader 1b referrvd to a most splendid engravlngf on wood, executed by Mr. Harvey, of the Astassination of h. S. Dentattu, from a celebrated palntiog by B. R. Hay- don. Some yeara since, BJr. Harvey declined engraving OD wood, having determined to step Into the upper walks of art.
 * As a apecimen of the extraordlnair nklU of thia artist,

t Bis family, who still reside at Newcastle, are In pos- session of an autograph Memoir of this siD^olar man, written with great naitiete, and full of anecdote.

Matthew Bewick, his nephew, died at Ovingham, July 4, 1839. He was a young man of great promise, and was likely, had ho lived, to have attained an equal degree of eminence In the profession with his uncle.

attempt of superior printing was made, at the exp'ense of the rev. Mr. Homer, senior fellow of Magdalen college, Cambridge, who subse- quently disposed of the whole impression (except- ing those reserved for presents) to the bookseller, Mr. Thomas Payne. The next work was a quarto Bible in two volumes, 1796, and two unique copies upon India paper, printed on one side only. Another work, executed by Mr. Ritchie, with uncommon splendour and expense, was Memoirs of the Count de Grammont, a small page upon quarto, one thousand five hundred copies on small paper, five hundred on What- man's wove, royal, one copy on vellum, and three copies having the diminutive quarto page worked in the centre of a whole sheet of royal.

On bis first diverging from the beaten track Mr. Ritchie encountered considerable difficnlties. The paper-maker, Mr. Whatman, and the ink- maker, Mr. Blackwell, contributed most suc- cessfully, all their skill to this laudable design, but the want of journeymen to enter into uie spirit of the undertaking with that e.Vraordinary exertion of care and ingenuity whici. >(^ indis- pensably required, was a difficulty t. discouraging, which he had long to cc 'Nd with, and never wholly conquered; men could get who by bodily strength would puli down the press, and give the impression, but the giving the colour required skill and patience far exceeding what pressmen had any idea of in this country ,V> that Mr. Ritchie found himself obliged to manage the balls and beat every sheet with bis own bands. With all his perseverance and skill in printing, he had not the art of getting independent by bis labours ; he failed in busi- ness, and was succeeded in his efforts by Mr. Bulmer ; Mr. Bensley and Mr. M' Creery fol- lowed, and from the presses of those gentlemen have issued some of tbe finest specimens of typography which this or any other country hafi produced. Emulation is a {Powerful principle in our nature, and the success which has attended their exertions, contributed in a great degree to give a new tone and character to the profession.

There is a likeness of Mr. Ritchie in Hansard's Typographia, by whom he was employed as warehouseman, after his failure.

1828, Dec. 20. Died, Stephen Jones, well known as the compiler and author of many use- ful works. He was the son of Mr. Giles Jones, secretary to the York building society, was born in London in 1763, educated at St. Paul's school, and apprenticed to a printer in Fetter- lane. On the expiration of his time he was en- gaged as a corrector of the press in the office of Mr. Strahan, but at the end of four years he removed to that of Thomas Wright, in Peter- borough-court, where he remained till the death of the principal, in March ,1797, an event which terminated Mr. Jones's immediate connexion with the profession of a printer ; and he became the editor of the Whitehall Evening Post; but on the decline of that paper he undertook the management of the General Evening Post. He was a member of the society of freemasons, and

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