Biographical Note

Samuel Hollyer (1826-1919) was born in London, England, where he was trained as an engraver by the brothers Edward and William Finden. He came to the United States in 1851, and worked for various New York book publishers until 1860 when he returned to England to live.

Six years later, Hollyer came back to America, settling in Hudson Heights, near Guttenberg, New Jersey, a small community across the Hudson River from Manhattan. He commuted daily to his studio in New York, where he created line and stipple engravings, mezzotints, and etchings for various publications and print collectors. Bookplates were one of his specialties, as were portraits of literary celebrities.

Samuel Hollyer died in New York in December 1919, at the age of 93. His obituary in the New York Times described him as "one of the last, if not the very last, of the old school of line engravers."