Benjamin Fawcett

Who was Benjamin Fawcett?

Benjamin Fawcett was one of the finest of English nineteenth century woodblock colour printers. The son of a ship's master, he was apprenticed at age 14 for seven years to William Forth, a Bridlington bookseller and printer. In 1831 he started his own business in Middle Street, Driffield, as music seller, bookbinder and printer, bookseller and stationer. He married Mary Ann Woodmansey in 1830, from whom he had two sons before her death in 1834. He was married again in 1848, to Martha Porter, and raised a large family of four daughters and six sons.

His early works were mostly children's books published by Webb & Millington of Leeds. In about 1845 he formed a close working association with Francis Orpen Morris. This relationship would last nearly 50 years and have a profound effect on British ornithology. Morris wrote the text for books which were financed and printed by Fawcett, and were engraved by Alexander Francis Lydon, who had started his career as Fawcett's apprentice. Colour printing was a major change from the much-admired monochrome work of Thomas Bewick. At first wood-engraving illustrations were coloured by hand, but later a system of colouring from multiple wood blocks was used.