Engravings
Jonathan Fisher began making woodcuts in the summer of 1793 while home on vacation from his studies at Harvard. His journal entries from the time record the following
Dedham July 22-27, 1793. Worked on the farm; engraved on boxwood, began a small printing press.
July 29-Aug. 3. Worked on printing press and haying.
Aug. 5-10, 1793. Worked some on the farm. Finished my printing press; engraved a little and struck off a number of prints from boxwood cuts.
Fisher illustrated two of his books with his own engravings. The Youth's Primer, published in 1817 with 28 engravings, was patterned after the New England Primer. Scripture Animals, published in 1834, took 15 years to compile and was filled with 140 woodcuts depicting each of the creatures mentioned in the bible. Fisher's preface to the volume states
As respects the cuts, a few of them are form nature, but most of them are copied, and generally reduced a little, to bring them conveniently within the compass of the page I have chosen for the work. Of the execution, I may remark, that not being able to hire them engraved, I have engraved them myself, and having had no instruction in the art, and but little practice, I can lay claim to no elegance in their appearance. I have endeavored to give a true outline; the filling up must speak for itself.
Fisher also engraved a bookplate for the Blue Hill Library--still used to this day--as well as stamps for the Blue Hill Academy and the Congregational Church Library.
Morning View of Blue Hill (Jonathan Fisher, 1824).
Karl Kups, curator of prints at the New York Public Library, characterized Fisher's engravings thusly
Fisher's style of engraving, in the manner of the typical primitive, shows the lack of training, of "how-to." But it is made up by a most fervent desire to please, and by an almost childlike persistence to get that animal upon the wood block, come what may. His modeling is poor . . . but in the handling of the tool . . . Fisher shows real craftsmanship in the execution of his engravings. He knows no fear in flicking out small bits to get the texture of either fur or feathers. He engraves the most enchanting landscapes around and behind his animals, and he manages to add neat the precise letter into either fore- or background of the design.