Narrative closure in the vignettes of Thomas and John Bewick

Abstract

Abstract Thomas Bewick (1753–1828) and his younger brother John (1760-95) illustrated a surprising number of books for children. Books on moral instruction, natural history, folklore and poetry were published, illustrated by their wood engravings, in both Newcastle upon Tyne and London. Thomas Bewick's success in recreating white-line wood engraving is well known,1 while his brother's work with the Newberys in London is also well documented.2 Ian Bain has published a volume of Thomas Bewick's vignettes (1978), and David Esslemond has printed art reproductions of the vignettes of both John and Thomas (1978 and 1980). It is these vignettes that characterize the success of the Bewick's wood engravings. Unframed, original, clever and sometimes shocking,3 they have been reproduced and copied many times. However, the interaction of the viewer/reader with the text and with the vignettes, as illustrations set within books for children (admittedly the natural histories have equal appeal for adults), is of considerable interest. This process is particularly intriguing because the subject-matter of the text is rarely illustrated by the image in the vignette. Instead a vignette, especially when it follows a block of text, holds within it images which encourage exploration outside the printed text rather than mediating between the image and the text.