Background

Alfred Jones was born on April 7, 1819 in Liverpool, England, the son of Samuel and Mary (Britten) Jones.

Education

After settling in the United States, Alfred studied in every leisure moment at the National Academy of Design and received the first prize awarded by the Academy in 1839 for a drawing from a cast of Thorvaldsen's "Mercury. "

Career

Alfred Jones came to America when a very young man and was apprenticed as a bank-note engraver in the firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, first in Albany, New York, and subsequently in New York City.

Bank-note companies furnished employment for the line engravers of that day. The vignettes on bank notes were engraved by Jones with good drawing and a certain boldness and richness of hue. Consequently Jones's services were in demand by many publishers. In 1846 he went to Europe to study and spent a year in Paris in the life classes. He also visited England, working there under some of the best London masters.

When he returned to New York, he engaged in business for himself, devoting his time almost exclusively to banknote vignettes. Noteworthy are the two-cent, thirty-cent, and four- and five-dollar postage stamps of the Columbian series for the American Bank Note Company.

He was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1841 and an Academician in 1851 and for many years was secretary and treasurer of the Academy.

As a line engraver he had few, if any, superiors in the United States. Many of his engravings appeared in Graham's Magazine and Godey's Lady's Book. He engraved for the American Art Union "The Farmer's Nooning" (1843), after W. S. Mount, an especially admired plate, also "The Image Breaker" (1850), after the picture by E. Leutze, recognized as one of his best engravings.

Other examples published by the Art Union were "Sparking" (1844) and "The New Scholar" (1850), after Francis Edmonds; "Mexican News" (1851), after W. C. Woodville; "One of Life's Happy Hours, " after Lilly M. Spencer; "Poor Relations, " after J. H. Beard; "Patrick Henry, Delivering his Celebrated Speech in the House of Burgesses, Virginia 1765, " after P. F. Rothermel; and "Capture of Major André, " after Durand.

Alfred Jones died in 1900 from injuries received when he was run over by a cab in New York City.

Achievements

• Alfred Jones's remarkable achievement was in the invention of a process for successfully producing directly from a photograph a plate that could be printed with type, the popular "half-tone process" of a later day. He made his negative upon crown glass and produced the screen by ruling this negative in a ruling machine; from this ruled negative an electrotype was made. Also, he was successful in making exclusive banknote vignettes, especially in the Columbian series for the American Bank Note Company. Noteworthy are the two-cent, thirty-cent, and four- and five-dollar postage stamps of his authorship. He engraved fine portraits of Washington, Asher B. Durand, and two portraits of Thomas Carlyle for the Grolier Club--all good examples of combination of line work and etching.

Works

More photos

• book

  • HistoricalFindings Photo: Mexican News

    (8x12 inch Photographic Print from a high-quality scan of ...)

Membership

Alfred Jones was a member of the Artists' Fund Society and the American Water Color Society. He was one of the earliest members of the Century Association, being elected in 1847.

Connections

Alfred Jones married, in May 1841, Louisa, daughter of Richard Major of Brooklyn, New York, and had three daughters.

Father:

Samuel Jones

Mother:

Mary (Britten) Jones

Wife:

Louisa Major Jones

References

• Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Living Men and Women of the United States, 1899-1900 (Classic Reprint)
• American Graphic Art (Classic Reprint)