Mark D. Tomasko

Images of Value: The Artwork behind US Security Engraving, 1830s–1980s Mark D. Tomasko

Published to accompany the eponymous exhibition, held at the Grolier Club February 22-April 29, 2017. Preface by William H. Gerdts, Introduction, and Notes on Security Engraving and Art by Mark Tomasko, followed by a fully illustrated catalogue of items in the exhibition. America became the world leader in security engraving by the 1860s, a result of the antebellum banking system; and picture engraving was the key defense against counterfeiting. Original works by American artists such as F. O. C. Darley, Henry Inman, James D. Smillie, Walter Shirlaw, Alonzo E. Foringer and others are represented in every medium, from beautiful watercolor drawings to large allegorical oil paintings, paired with the bank notes and securities on which the resulting engravings appeared. The frontispiece in each copy is an intaglio print of the vignette "Abundance," engraved by Robert Savage in 1927 from artwork by Alonzo E. Foringer.