Contemporary bookplate of Fraser, Fourth Baronet of Ledeclune (Sir William August Fraser) on front pastedown. . This work is based on a prose version published in 1790 and it uses most of the illustrations from that work. The verse version was aimed at a younger audience and the change from prose to verse was "with a view to making them more entertaining." All editions are scarce, known in nine copies or less. John Bewick was a wood-engraver and the younger brother of Thomas Bewick. Once in London, he worked for his brother's former employer, Thomas Hodgson of Clerkenwell, a wood-and metal-engraver. Bewick eventually set out on his own and rented rooms from George Percival at 7 Clerkenwell Green. Here, he began his relationship with the eccentric Dr. John Trusler, who lived nearby and printed his own books from his home. Trusler commissioned nine of the sixty-eight titles so far identified as having containing John Bewick's illustrations. John Trusler was a Church of England clergyman author, printer, educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is credited with publishing the first thesaurus to the English language.