to engrave on copper pennies rolled thin. In this way he made his first plate, which was a head of Paul Jones; and his first impression from it was made in red oil paint by a rude kind of a press of his own contrivance. With tools made by a blacksmith, he went on to cut little ships and houses on type metal for the newspapers. Being in some way led to take an interest in certain medical works, he copied many of the plates, and his father, feeling that this was a true sign of his fitness for the profession of medicine, and not discerning the talent for engraving, placed him with Dr. Joseph Young, as a student of medicine.
This step was taken with great reluctance by the youth; but he found time for both the cares of his new study, and for the pleasures of his old pastime. Various successes encouraged him, and in 1793 he cut a tobacco-stamp on wood, which appears to have been his first use of that material. Soon after this, he obtained a copy of Bewick’s “Quadrupeds,” and with the cuts found therein he was delighted. They had a strong influence upon his later work, and he has been well called the “American Bewick,” for his small wood-cuts closely resemble those of the English master in design, and his prominence in this country was equal to Bewick’s in England.
A life of Dr. Anderson has lately (1893) been issued in New York; but, to the disappointment of book-plate collectors, not a word is said of his making book-plates.
Of the seven plates by Anderson known at present, four are on wood, and three are on copper.
Only one of those on wood is signed. The Lot Tripp and Josh. Russell plates are simple labels, and the Typographical Society of New York and the John Pintard, LL.D., which is signed, are pictorial. In the former, the emblems and implements of the printing trade are prominent, and in the Pintard, which is a fine example