ANDERSON, ALEXANDER (1775-1870), pioneer Amer ican wood engraver, was born in New York city on April 21, the son of a printer. At the age of 12 he made his first attempts at engraving without instruction by observing the work of jewel lers and other artisans. Among his earliest efforts were copies of anatomical figures in medical works cut with a pocket-knife in plates made by rolling out pennies. In 1789, in compliance with his father's desire, he began the study of medicine and continued until he graduated at the medical department of Columbia col lege in 1796. But throughout this period he maintained an active interest in engraving. In 1793, upon seeing wood engravings by Thomas Bewick (q.v.), he obtained boxwood blocks, designed his own tools, and produced the first wood engravings made in the United States. In 1794 he illustrated with wood engravings the book entitled Looking Glass for the Mind. Upon the loss of his entire family from yellow fever in 1798, he withdrew from med ical practice and devoted himself entirely to engraving. At first he used both metal and wood, but after 1820 he confined his work almost exclusively to wood engravings. He illustrated numerous books, chiefly after English originals, and produced during his long life an enormous volume of work. At the age of 93 he cut a series of pictures for Barker's Historical Collection of New Jersey. He was also a skilled miniature painter and executed numerous portraits. Among his most widely known productions are the illustrations for Webster's Elementary Spelling Book; en gravings for Shakespeare's plays; Holbein's Dance of Death, pub lished as Emblems of Mortality, and some 30o cuts for Bewick's Quadrupeds. Entirely self-taught, he became the "father of wood engraving in the United States." He died in Jersey City, N.J., on Jan. 18, 1870.
See B. J. Lossing, Memorial Address on Alexander Anderson (1872), and F. M. Burr, Life and Works of Alexander Anderson (1893) .