Thomas Birch (1779–1851), artist, was born in England, the son of the enamel painter and engraver William Birch. By 1800 he had settled in Philadelphia, where he assisted his father in the production of The City of Philadelphia, … as it appeared in the Year 1800 (Springland Cot, Pa., 1800; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends no. 4161). Originally a profile painter, the younger Birch later turned to landscapes and seascapes, and he portrayed a number of naval engagements from the War of 1812. He was keeper of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1812–17, and often exhibited there (Jane Turner, ed., Encyclopedia of American Art before 1914 [2000], 42–3; Fielding, Dictionary description begins description ends , 29; Philadelphia North American and United States Gazette, 14, 15 Jan. 1851).

Alexander Lawson (1772–1846), engraver, was a native of Scotland. He immigrated to the United States in 1794 and soon settled in Philadelphia, where he worked for the engraving firm of Thackara & Valance for two years before beginning a successful career on his own. Lawson is best known as the engraver for Alexander Wilson, American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States, 9 vols. (Philadelphia, 1808–14; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends no. 1022), and Charles Lucian Bonaparte, American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of Birds Inhabiting the United States, not given by Wilson, 4 vols. (Philadelphia, 1825–33) (Townsend Ward, “Alexander Lawson,” PMHB description begins Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1877–  description ends 28 [1904]: 204–8; Fielding, Dictionary description begins description ends , 211; Bayard H. Christy, “Alexander Lawson’s Bird Engravings,” Auk 43 [1926]: 47–61; Philadelphia North American, 28 Aug. 1846).

Lawson, the engraver of this frontispiece, worked from a drawing by Birch (PPAN: Lawson Scrapbooks, item 1:92a).