Alexander Anderson scrapbooks

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Collection History

Sixteen scrapbooks, containing close to 10,000 wood-engravings by 19th-century master illustrator Alexander Anderson.

Background

Alexander Anderson (1775-1870) is considered one of America’s earliest and finest wood-engravers. During a career spanning seventy years, he produced a large number of illustrations for books, periodicals, newspapers, and other commercial ephemera, after both his own designs and those of other artists.

Related Resources

Books illustrated by Anderson are available in large libraries with strong 19th-century holdings, including NYPL.

Duyckinck, Evert. A Brief Catalogue of Books Illustrated with Engravings by Dr. Alexander Anderson with a Biographical Sketch of the Artist [1885]

Pomeroy, Jane Alexander. Anderson's Life and Engravings; with a Checklist of Publications Drawn from His Diary [1990]

Collection Data

Description: Wood-engravings by 19th-century master illustrator, Alexander Anderson that are pasted into a set of 12 scrapbook albums together containing thousands of images. As the prints are proofs and represent a virtual complete catalog of the artist's work, it is assumed they came directly from Anderson's descendants to the Library, where they were re-bound in 1954. There are very general subject indexes at the beginning of each of the twelve scrapbooks; there is also a very basic subject index in the Print Collection files.
Names: Anderson, Alexander (1775-1870) (Engraver)
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 1794 - 1870 (Approximate)
Library locations: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection; Shelf locator: MEYI (Anderson, Scrap Book)
Genres: Prints; Scrapbooks; Illustrations
Notes: Biographical/historical: Alexander Anderson (1775-1870) is considered one of America’s earliest and finest wood-engravers and was a New York physician active during the city's Yellow Fever epidemics. He developed the technique of wood engraving in the United States soon after Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) invented the technique in England. During a career spanning seventy years, he produced a large number of illustrations for books, periodicals, newspapers, and other commercial ephemera, after both his own designs and those of other artists.; Content: MEYI Alexander Anderson Scrapbooks tk # vols (and) MEM A545 AA Alexander Anderson tk # vols (Lenox Library. Duykinck Coll) -- source of others may be same
Physical Description: Extent: 12 scrapbooks (approximately 100 pages per scrapbook) ; 13 ¼ x 11 in.; Wood engravings
Type of Resource: Still image
Identifiers: Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): eb4bfbd0-c5d5-012f-6554-58d385a7bc34