Alfred Hoffy

Alfred Hoffy was a British-American lithographer and botanical illustrator. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1830s after serving in the British Army. Hoffy initially settled in New York City, where he collaborated with J.T. Bowen, a fellow British-born lithographer who would become one of Philadelphia's most important lithographers and lithographic plate publishers. Hoffy moved to Philadelphia around 1838 and quickly set up his own business. "Orchardist's Companion" (1841-43) was one of the most important works he produced while living there. It was (as defined by its full title) a "quarterly journal, devoted to the history, character, properties, modes of cultivation, and all other matters appertaining to the fruits of the United States" and was the first of its kind to be published within the United States. He would later work with William D. Brinckle to produce another book dedicated to North American fruits entitled "North American Pomologist." 

Hoffy also produced lithographic portraits from daguerreotypes, military fashion plates for the "U.S. Military Magazine" and news-related lithographs such as the Great Fire of New York in 1835 and the arrival on an Egyptian sarcophagus in Philadelphia around 1839 (an advertisement for a display at Girarde College).