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.