This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Anderson's connections to Columbia are many. He received an M.D. from Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1796, engraved Columbia's commencement ticket in 1794, and a bookplate for the College Library. As noted in his diary, he began sketching the design for the bookplate on March 14, 1795, delivered the finished work to President Johnson on March 25th, and was, after some effort on his part, paid £2, 8s on May 7th.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Alexander Anderson Diary; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
A typescript of the diaries is available in the Columbiana Manuscripts collection, item 119.
Microfilm for volume 1 is available.
Transfer from the John B. Pine Papers #3001F by BRC Letters from 1911/1912 in the Collection File
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Local identifier (call number) changed from MS#1861 to X92 An. kws 2022-12-13
Alexander Anderson has long been considered the father of wood engraving in America, being the first in this country to adopt the technique developed in England by Thomas Bewick. Wood engraving produces a finer image than the standard woodcut by working on the denser end-grain section of the wood. Anderson acknowledged his debt to Bewick in 1804 by creating an American edition of Bewick's A General History of Quadrupeds (1790) with his own re-engraved blocks, adding "some American animals not hitherto described.".
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