Thomas Bewick’s (1753-1828) History of British Birds was the first field guide of its kind for ordinary people, illustrated with woodcuts of astonishing accuracy and beauty. In Nature’s Engraver , Jenny Uglow tells the story of Bewick - the farmer’s son from Tyneside who became one of Britain’s greatest and most popular engravers. It is a story of violent change, radical politics, lost ways of life, and the beauty of the wild - a journey to the beginning of our lasting obsession with the natural world.