J. Smithers, an Englishman, originally a gun-engraver employed in the Tower of London, came to Philadelphia in the year 1773.
He had a good name as a man and as an engraver, and made the blocks for the Continental money. A large plan of the city of Philadelphia on three plates, which was his work, was subsequently purchased, when copper was scarce, for thirty dollars, and cut up into smaller pieces. Among his pupils was Trenchard, of whose work we have a few examples.
The following plates are signed by Smithers:—
| John Day | Plain armorial. |
| Fenwick | Chippendale. |
| Henry Hale Graham | Plain armorial. |
| John Magill | Chippendale. |
| Henry McMurtrie | Pictorial. |
He sometimes signed with the final s, and sometimes without it. His book-plates are not especially brilliant in any way, but are good, and in the pure style. His finest attempt is the landscape plate for Dr. McMurtrie of Philadelphia.
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