Thomas Bewick is considered to be the finest of all English practitioners of wood engraving. He and his younger brother John (1760-1795) illustrated a number of books that were read by children from the late eighteenth century onwards. His most famous book was The History of British Birds (1797). Charlotte Bronte, in Jane Eyre, has her heroine reading the book and being gripped by the vignettes of English country life that accompany the text. The Bewicks were celebrated for their use of light and textures - especially on animals - an effect they achieved through the use of the "white-line" engraving technique (see Mahoney). According to the OCCL, Thomas Bewick "not only raised the art of wood engraving to the highest level, but was also the first person to make the work of the illustrator as important in books for children as the text."
