biography of Alexander Wilson DRAKE (1843-1916)

Birth place: Westfield, NJ

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Wood engraver, art editor, patron

Exhibited: NAD, 1865

Member: Graphic Arts Cl.; Century Cl.; Players Cl.; Grolier Cl.; SC; Authors' Cl.; Arch. Lg., 1886; Caxton Cl., Chicago; Founder/Member: Aldine Cl.

Comments: In early youth he became an apprentice of William Howland, then a leading wood engraver. From 1881 to 1912 he was director of the Art Department of Century magazine, of which he was also art editor, and in that capacity the friend and patron of many of the younger artists. He was noted as a collector of brass, samplers, bird-cages, amber, etc. He was also author of a number of poems and short stories. He and his colleague Charles Parsons were perhaps the two most encouraging forces on young illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration."

Sources: WW15; Sat. Evening Post 22 Feb. 1913, p.2"