John Foster (printer)

John Foster
Born1648
DiedSeptember 9, 1681 (aged 32–33)
Burial placeDorchester North Burying Ground
NationalityAmerican
EducationBachelor's degree
Alma materHarvard College (1667)
Occupation(s)Printer, engraver
Notable workFirst imprints of a map and portrait printed in America
Parent(s)Hopestill and Mary (Bates) Foster
Signature

John Foster (1648 – September 9, 1681) was an early American engraver and printer who lived in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony when the colony was still in its infancy. He is credited with producing the first printed image in British colonial America, from a woodcut[a] of the Puritan minister Richard Mather. He also printed the first map to appear in the colonies. Foster graduated from Harvard University, but was a self-taught pioneer in American printmaking in woodcut, and also learned the art of typography from the Boston printer Marmaduke Johnson. He subsequently printed many works by prominent religious figures of the day in Massachusetts, and for a few years printed and published an annual almanac. His woodcuts were also used for the printing of official seals of the Massachusetts Bay Colony used by the provincial government.

  1. ^ Roark, 2003, p. 19
  2. ^ Littlefield, 1907, v. 2, p. 4
  3. ^ a b Green, 1909, pp. 3-20
  4. ^ Malone, 1932, v. 6, p.549
  5. ^ Hamilton, 1953, p. 177
  6. ^ Roark, 2003, p. 37
  7. ^ Hamilton 1963, pp. xxiii-xxiv, 1


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