Background
Alexander Anderson was born on April 21, 1775 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of John Anderson, a Scotch printer, and Mary Anderson.
Alexander Anderson was born on April 21, 1775 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of John Anderson, a Scotch printer, and Mary Anderson.
Anderson was sent to a classical school where he learned to read Latin fluently, but he spent almost as much time in copying engravings with India ink. Having discovered indirectly through a cyclopedia how they were produced, he made his first prints etched on copper plates manufactured from pennies rolled out for him by a friend, his first graver being the sharpened backspring of a pocket-knife. Thus at the age of twelve he began the practice of the engraver's art. It may be said that he was self-taught, his knowledge coming from close observation of the work of others.
Anderson's father, not having faith in the profession of engraving as a means of livelihood, determined that his son should study medicine, a thing which the boy reluctantly consented to do. At fourteen he entered the office of Doctor Joseph Young and studied hard for the next four or five years, receiving a license to practise medicine in 1795. He took his medical degree in 1796.
Anderson's first engraving was the head of Paul Jones printed with red oil-paint, but soon acquiring better tools he began cutting small plates which he sold to the newspapers. Soon he became proficient in cutting initial letters, and before he was eighteen years old was frequently employed by printers and publishers.
At nineteen he engraved a commencement ticket for Columbia College and later made the illustrations for more than a hundred volumes of English classics. On type-metal he engraved illustrations for The Pilgrim's Progress, for Tom Thumb's Folio, for different editions of Dilworth's Spelling Book and later on for Webster's Spelling Book.
Early in 1794 he had the chance to peruse a sketch of Bewick's life and works and to see some of his illustrations of birds and quadrupeds. From this eminent English wood-engraver Anderson received a new revelation which he at once put to use. His first attempt on wood was a tobacco-stamp (1793), but a year later he tried more elaborate work. He had already engraved on type-metal the illustrations for The Looking Glass of the Mind (1794); he now set about reproducing them on wood. Thus in 1794, while still under twenty, Anderson became the first engraver on wood in America.
In 1795 Anderson was offered a position in Doctor Young's office, which he declined in favor of a small private practise. During this year the yellow fever broke out and the young doctor abandoned everything in order to work in Bellevue Hospital. But he eventually gave up medicine, which had become increasingly repugnant to him.
In 1797 he became an independent publisher, a step which was a failure.
In 1798 he drew and engraved on wood a full-length human skeleton from Albinus' Anatomy. During this year the fever broke out again and he lost almost every member of his family, including his wife and infant son. He took a trip to the West Indies, and on returning devoted himself entirely to the practise of his art. In 1800 he made fifty-two cuts for Emblems of Mortality.
He was called in the draft of the War of 1812 but soon found a substitute and on his return to New York was employed to engrave plates for the small paper money issued in 1814 and 1815.
He continued to be a faithful student of Bewick and re-drew and engraved 300 of the latter's illustrations for the first American edition of Bewick's General History of Quadrupeds (1804). He also made cuts for Irving and Paulding's Salmagundi (1814). Among other of his engravings are those for the American Tract Society.
In the London Art Journal for September 1858, when he was eighty-four, his own picture appeared engraved by himself in his "best style. " For ten years more he was constantly at work, and at ninety-three he cut a picture of the "Hudson County Court House and Jail" for Barber's Historical Collections of New Jersey (1868), this being the last work he did for a publisher. In 1868 he moved to Jersey City, where he died.
Anderson belonged to the Academy of Fine Arts, and when the Academy of Design was founded he was immediately made a member.
Anderson was modest and conscientious and would never consent to receive more than he thought his work was worth. He was also a good miniaturist and in early life was often employed in that capacity. He shrank from publicity but numbered among his friends many prominent men.
In April 1797 Anderson married Ann Van Vleck, a young Moravian. In 1798 the fever broke out and he lost his wife and infant son. Some time after this he married a sister of his first wife.