Thomas Bensley was one of the first English printers to turn his attention to printing as a fine art; and he may be reckoned, with Bulmer, chief among the reformers of the art. As Dibdin says, in the _Bibliographical Decameron_, he "completed the establishment of a _self working_ press, which prints on _both sides_ of the sheet by one and the same operation--and throws off 900 copies in an hour! This really seems magical. It is certainly without precedent." It was, no doubt, with intent that Benjamin White gave the printing of this book into such hands, and something of the sumptuousness which afterward in Macklin's _Bible_ and Hume's _History of England_ made Bensley famous may be seen in this work. Our chief interest in the volume, as a piece of bookmaking, centers in the illustrations, engraved by Peter Mazell and Daniel Lerpinière. These comprise a vignette on the title-page to _The Natural History_, with a line from White's own poem, "The Invitation to Selbourne"; seven plates, one, the large folding frontispiece, which is said to contain portraits of four of White's friends; and a vignette on the title-page of _The Antiquities_. They are all from drawings by a young Swiss artist named Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, who settled in London in 1778, and was much employed in topographical work. White's references to him in various letters give us quite an insight into the details of making this delightful book. Writing to Rev. John White, August 12, 1775, he says: "Mr. Grimm, the Swiss, is still in Derbyshire; and is to continue there and in Staffordshire 'til the end of the month. I have made all the inquiry I can concerning this artist, as it much behoves me to do. Mr. Tho. Mulso, and Brother Thomas, and Benjamin, and Mr. Lort have been to his lodgings to see his performances. They all agree that he is a man of genius; but the two former say that he does hardly seem to stick enough to nature; and that his trees are grotesque and strange. Brother Benjamin seems to approve of him. They all allow that he excels in grounds, water, and buildings. Friend Curtis recommends a Mr. Mullins, a worker in oil-colours. Grimm, it seems, has a way of staining his scapes with light water-colours, and seems disposed much in scapes for light sketchings; now I want _strong lights and shades_ and good trees and foliage." The inquiries seem, in the end, to have been satisfactory, and by May the fifth of the next year the young man had been engaged. An entry in _The Naturalists' Journal_, under date of July 8, 1776, records: "Mr. Grimm, my artist, came from London to take some of our finest views." On August 9, 1776, he says: