Life

He was born in Swalwell

Swalwell

Swalwell is a village in Tyne and Wear, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, in the United Kingdom.-History:On 27 August 1640, an encampment of soldiers was gathered in the fields north of Whickham church on the slope down to Swalwell. This was part of the Royalist army of King Charles I preparing to...

 in County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, the son a keelman. Nesbit became the engraver Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...

's apprentice in Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 about 1789. During his apprenticeship, he drew and engraved the bird's nest that heads the preface in the first volume of A History of British Birds and he engraved the majority of vignettes and tail-pieces for Poems of Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795. In 1796, Nesbit engraved a memorial cut to Robert Johnson (1770-1796), from one of that artist's designs, and a little more than a year later, for the benefit of Johnson's parents, a large block after a water-colour by Johnson of a north view of St Nicholas's Church, Newcastle. This engraving, fifteen inches by twelve, was one of the largest wood engravings ever attempted in the precise mode of Bewick's shop. Nesbit presented a copy of this church engraving to the Society of Arts, who awarded him their lesser silver palette.

About 1790 Nesbit moved from Newcastle to Fetter Lane

Fetter Lane

Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in London England. It runs from Fleet Street in the south to Holborn in the north.The earliest mention of the street is "faitereslane" in 1312. The name occurs with several spellings until it settles down about 1612. There is no agreement...

, London. In 1801 he engraved woodcuts for Grey's edition of Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler (poet)

Samuel Butler was a poet and satirist. Born in Strensham, Worcestershire and baptised 14 February 1613, he is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical burlesque poem on Puritanism entitled Hudibras.-Biography:...

's Hudibras

Hudibras

Hudibras is an English mock heroic narrative poem from the 17th century written by Samuel Butler.-Purpose:The work is a satirical polemic upon Roundheads, Puritans, Presbyterians and many of the other factions involved in the English Civil War...

. In 1802 he received a silver medal form the Society of Arts. He was employed on the Scriptures Illustrated, 1806, of William Marshall Craig

William Marshall Craig

William Marshall Craig exhibited at times at the Royal Academy, from 1788 until 1827. He first lived at Manchester, but settled in London about 1791. He was painter in water-colours to the Queen, and miniature painter to the Duke and Duchess of York...

 and also on Wallis and Scholey's edition of David Hume

David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...

's History of England, which often displays his name on the woodcuts. With Branston and Clennell he engraved the head and tail pieces for an 1808 edition of William Cowper

William Cowper

William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...

's Poems in two volumes. Nesbit engraved 'Hope Departing', 'Joyful Retribution', 'Sinners Hiding in the Grave', among other wood engravings for Ackermann's Religious Emblems, 1809.

By 1818, Nesbit had returned to Swalwell in Durham, although he continued to work as a wood engraver for the London and Newcastle booksellers. He engraved a likeness of Bewick, after Nicholson, for Emerson Charnley's Select Fables, 1820; and some excellent reproductions of William Harvey's designs for Northcote's Fables, 1828. In 1830 Nesbit returned to London and worked upon Harvey's 'Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green', 1832; Gilbert White

Gilbert White

Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...

's Selborne, 1836; and Latrobe's Scripture Illustrations, 1838. Nesbit, perhaps the best of Bewick's pupils, died at Queen's Elm, Brompton, on the 11th of November 1838.