1790's had become a famous printer. In 1795 he published an edition
of _Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell_, which was preceded by an
Advertisement announcing his intentions:

The present volume ... [is] particularly meant to combine the
various beauties of PRINTING, TYPE-FOUNDING, ENGRAVING, and
PAPER-MAKING.... The ornaments are all engraved on blocks of wood,
by two of my earliest acquaintances, Messrs. Bewick [Thomas and his
brother and apprentice John], of Newcastle upon Tyne and London,
after designs made from the most interesting passages of the Poems
they embellish. They have been executed with great care, and I may
venture to say, without being supposed to be influenced by ancient
friendship, that they form the most extraordinary effort of the art
of engraving upon wood that ever was produced in any age, or any
country. Indeed it seems almost impossible that such delicate
effects could be obtained from blocks of wood. Of the Paper, it is
only necessary to say that it comes from the manufactory of Mr.
Whatman.

The following year, 1796, a companion volume, _The Chase, a Poem_, by
William Somervile, appeared with cuts by Bewick after drawings by his
brother John (see fig. 11). In both books, although no acknowledgment
was given, there was considerable assistance from pupils Robert and
John Johnson and Charlton Nesbit, as well as from an artist associate
Richard Westall.[24] Bulmer was quite conscious that a new era in
printing and illustration had begun. Updike[25] notes Bulmer's
recognition of the achievements of both Baskerville and Bewick in giving
the art of printing a new basis:

To understand the causes of the revival of English printing which
marked the last years of the century, we must remember that by 1775
Baskerville was dead.... There seems to have been a temporary lull
in English fine printing and the kind of type-founding that
contributed to it. The wood-engraving of Thomas Bewick, produced
about 1780, called, nevertheless, for more brilliant and delicate
letter-press than either Caslon's or Wilson's types could supply.
If Baskerville's fonts had been available, no doubt they would have
served.... So the next experiments in typography were made by a
little coterie composed of the Boydells, the Nicols, the Bewicks
(Thomas and John), and Bulmer.

[Illustration: Figure 9.--Tailp