Charles Toppan

Charles Toppan (1796–1877) was an American engraver and printmaker active in Philadelphia during the first half of the nineteenth century. He was part of the prominent Toppan family of engravers and printers and worked in partnership with his brother John Toppan, forming the firm Toppan & Co., which became one of the most respected engraving houses in the United States. The firm produced a wide range of work including book illustrations, portraits, bank note plates, maps, and historical subjects. Toppan’s engraving work was closely tied to the expanding American publishing industry of the 1820s and 1830s. Among his notable projects is the 1829 engraved facsimile of Thomas Jefferson’s “Original Rough Draught” of the Declaration of Independence, issued in Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Jefferson’s grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph. This work represents one of the earliest attempts to faithfully reproduce a historic American manuscript through engraving. During the mid nineteenth century Toppan and his firm became especially important in the field of security engraving, producing plates for bank notes and government documents. The company eventually evolved into Toppan, Carpenter & Co., which later became part of the American Bank Note Company, one of the leading security printing firms in the United States. Toppan’s career reflects the transition of American engraving from traditional book and portrait illustration into the highly specialized field of bank note and document engraving.