Alexander Anderson (illustrator)
Dr Alexander Anderson (April 21, 1775 – January 17, 1870) was an American physician and illustrator. Biography. Anderson was born in New York City to Scottish parents. "At the age of twelve years he made his first attempts at engraving on copper, frequently using pennies rolled out, and on type-metal plates. He received no instruction, and his knowledge was acquired by watching jewelers and other workmen." Anderson was a contemporary of Thomas Bewick, and published his first work in Arnaud Bernaud's "The Looking Glass of the Mind" in 1794. However, he was urged by his parents  to pursue a career in medicine. He apprenticed with Dr. William Smith at fourteen and received his license at twenty. He became the first doctor at what would become Bellevue Hospital, established to deal with an outbreak of yellow fever in New York City in 1795. When the epidemic ended, he sought an academic degree in medicine, "married, became a father, and opened a medical office"; however, he soon abandoned this office in favour of a shop "that sold children's books he personally engraved". Another outbreak of yellow fever began in 1798, and Anderson returned to Bellevue as the  resident physician. He is one of the earliest American wood-engravers. He produced works for books, periodicals, and newspapers. Anderson is the author of the cartoon "Ograbme", a spoof on the Embargo Act of 1807. Anderson died in 1870, at the age of 95. Smithsonian, March 2021, pp14-18. The Fever That Struck New York: The front lines of a terrible epidemic, through the eyes of a young doctor profoundly touched by tragedy, by Carolyn Eastman.