"American Engravers Upon Copper and Steel" David McNeely Stauffer, 1994
American Engravers is a monumental archival masterpiece that resurrects the forgotten artisans who visually forged the identity of early America. Spanning from the late colonial era through the mid-nineteenth century, this exhaustive three-volume reference set serves as a time capsule for the meticulous craft of printmaking. Prior to this foundational work, the names and biographical legacies of the master craftsmen who engraved the young nation's currency, historic maps, portraits, and books were largely lost to time. Through years of relentless historical detective work, David McNeely Stauffer compiled a definitive checklist of over 700 engravers, painstakingly detailing their artistic breakthroughs, commercial struggles, and unique technical hallmarks.
 
Far more than a dry directory, this Oak Knoll Press edition synthesizes Stauffer's pioneer research with critical expansions by scholars Mantle Fielding and Thomas Hovey Gage to construct an epic narrative of early American commerce and propaganda. The text reveals how a disparate band of self-taught silversmiths and imported European talents weaponized copper and steel plates to broadcast the imagery of revolution, patriotism, and industrial triumph to an expanding nation. By documenting the exact physical prints, states, and variants of these rare engravings, the volumes act as an indispensable, gold-standard map for modern curators, art historians, and rare print collectors. It stands as a brilliant tribute to the silent architects of America's earliest visual culture, preserving a legacy that was once written in metal and nearly worn away by history.