Thomas Bewick’s A General History of Quadrupeds, first published in 1790 in Newcastle upon Tyne [Bewick, T. (1791) A General History of Quadrupeds. 2nd edition. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Hodgson, S., Beilby, R. & Bewick, T. (Bradshaw-Bewick Collection, Bradshaw-Bewick 761 BEW)].
Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) was an English wood engraver and author of books on animals and the natural world. Born in Northumberland, he trained as an engraver in Newcastle-upon-Tyne under Ralph Beilby, first on metal plates and later on wood blocks.
Bewick’s work is recognised for his attention to nature and his ability to carve wood blocks in fine detail, a notoriously difficult skill to acquire. His works also showcased his sense of humour – many of his books include small vignettes, called tail-pieces, showcasing amusing scenes of rural or animal life.
In 1790 Bewick published A General History of Quadrupeds, an encyclopaedia of wild and domesticated mammals from all over the world with prints carved by Bewick. The History is particularly thorough in its exploration of domesticated animals including horses, cattle, sheep, and dogs. There are entries for 30 different breeds of dog alone.
Bewick’s writing clearly displays his admiration for dogs in all their variety:
“The services of this truly valuable creature have been so eminently useful to the domestic interests of men in all ages, that to give the history of the Dog would be little less than to trace mankind back to their original state of simplicity and freedom…in every age Dogs have been found possessed of qualities most admirably adapted for the various purposes to which they have been from time to time applied”
(Bewick, 1791, pG 296-298).
He also shows his compassion for animals, as in this entry for the Dalmatian:
“We do not, however, admire the cruel practice of depriving the poor animal of its ears, in order to encrease (sic) its beauty: A practice so general, that we do not remember ever to have seen one of these dogs unmutilated in this way”
(Bewick, 1791, PG 310)
For several breed entries, he gives specific credit to the owners of the dogs he studied for his drawings.
Among the 30 breeds of dog individually listed by Bewick, many of them are recognisable to the modern day. The ‘shepherd’s dog,’ dalmatian, greyhound, pug, and Newfoundland are among those breeds still well known and possibly virtually unchanged to today.
There are also some breeds featured which are less well-known or even extinct today. The ‘lyemmer,’ or limer dog, was a medieval hunting dog used mainly to chase down big game such as wild boar. After boar became extinct in Britain, this breed ceased to exist; as Bewick notes, “It is now unknown to us,” (Bewick, 1791, p.312). The turnspit dog, still existing at the time of Bewick’s writing, was a small, short-legged dog, used to run a wheel which turned meat on a spit over the fire for even cooking. By 1790, as Bewick says,
“its services seem but little attended to; a more certain method of doing the business of the spit having superseded the labours of this industrious animal”
(Bewick, 1791, p.333)
Turnspit dogs have now gone extinct, though perhaps some of their genes linger on in modern-day mutts.
Bewick’s closing remarks on the subject of dogs includes an interesting description of dogs trained to lead the blind, a task which we may be surprised to hear about from the 18th century:
“There are few who have not seen [a blind man], led by his Dog, through the various passages of populous towns…”
(Bewick, 1791, p.334)
Multiple editions and copies of this book and others by Bewick are available to view in the Bradshaw-Bewick, Friends, Butler, and Clarke Local collections at Newcastle University Special Collections and Archives.