'The Maimon, or Pig-Tailed Baboon'. A Pig-tailed Macaque(?) monkey sitting on a table. Wood-engraving print on paper. Illustration from the eighth edition (1824) of 'A General History of Quadrupeds' (first published 1790). Engraved by Thomas Bewick. Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

A Pig-tailed Macaque(?) monkey sitting on a table, investigating what appears to be two apples.

This engraving is from the eighth edition (1824) of Thomas Bewick's first major independent publication, A General History of Quadrupeds, that was first printed and published in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1790. The volume contains illustrations of animals, alongside brief descriptions of their appearance, habits and habitats, accompanied by a number of illustrative vignettes, used mainly as tailpieces.

In the 1792 edition of the book, it is written of this animal that: 'Its muzzle is large and thick ; face and ears naked, and of a flesh colour ; the hair on the head and back is of a deep olive, palest on the belly ; it has hazel eyes, cheek pouches, collosities on the buttocks, which are naked, and of a red colour. - It is a native of Sumatra and Japan. One of this kind was shewn in the North in 1788, from which this drawing was made'.

Historical significance: The first engraver to exploit fully the advantages of end-grain wood (the wood is cut across, rather than along, the grain) was Thomas Bewick. Once it had been proved that the technique could rival the fine effects of metal engraving, the advantages of wood engraving to the book trade were quickly recognised. Allowing both text and illustration to be printed in one operation, it ousted the intaglio process as the favourite for book illustration and was only superseded at the end of the nineteenth century when methods of photomechanical reproduction were developed.

This print is from the eighth edition (1824) of Thomas Bewick's A General History of Quadrupeds (first published 1790).

CIRC.569-1965