William Somerville. The Chase: A Poem / Illustrated by John and Thomas Bewick. — London: W. Bulmer and Co., Shakespeare Printing Office, 1796.

Royal 4to, 29.8 x 23.5 cm, contemporary half brown morocco, marbled boards gilt ruled, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt title lettering; "William Gore" armorial bookplate to front pastedown.

Title page: THE | CHASE. | A | POEM. | BY | WILLIAM SOMERVILLE, | ESQ. | [VIGNETTE] | LONDON : | PRINTED BY W. BULMER AND CO. | Shakespeare Printing Office, | CLEVELAND-ROW. | 1796.

Collation: without signatures. — Pagination: [i-v] vi-xv [xvi], [i] ii-vii [viii], [1-5] 6-126; illustrations: engraved title, 4 running titles, 4 headpieces, 4 tailpieces – 13 altogether, all drafted by John Bewick, 12 executed by Thomas Bewick and the last one by Charlton Nesbit.

Catalogue Raisonné: Thomas Hugo. The Bewick Collector, vol. 1 (1866):  p. 38, № 94: "The first edition... was printed in royal 4to". John Bewick made all the drawings on the blocks but was not able to execute the engravings himself "because of ill-health. They were engraved by Thomas Bewick, with the exception of the tail-piece at the end of the volume, which was engraved by Nesbit".

Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 1753 – 8 November 1828); John Bewick (1760 – 1795), the younger brother of Thomas, died at the age of 35.

Christie's, which sold a similar copy on 29 Oct 2012, lists the size as 2°.

Provenance: Armorial bookplate of William Gore, bearing a lion rampant holding an escutcheon of the Gore arms (Gules, a fess argent between three cross crosslets fitchee or); inscription in manuscript “William Gore.” The plate indicates a descendant of the Gore family of London (cf. William Gore, Lord Mayor of London, 1701), but no cadency marks or additional identifiers permit a precise attribution; likely a late 18th–early 19th-century owner, contemporary with the publication (1796).