David Claypoole Johnston was the earliest American artist to create a substantial body of original book illustration in a distinctive style. Between the mid 1820s and the early 1860s he contributed illustrations to at least seventy books, as well as many periodicals. He illustrated many kinds of books, including medical, historical, and dramatic subjects, but his most original and interesting work was as an illustrator of humorous fiction. As an admirer and follower in his early career of the amiably satiric work of his British contemporary George Cruikshank, Johnston gained the sobriquet "the American Cruikshank," but as his career progressed, his own style and artistic persona emerged. In his best work Johnston captured better perhaps than any other graphic artist of his era the good-humored optimism and robustly democratic spirit of Jacksonian America. Late in his career his work also reflected the more somber ethos of the national...