Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elder, William
ELDER, WILLIAM (fl. 1680–1700), engraver, was a Scotchman by birth, but worked in London, where he was employed principally by the booksellers. He engraved many portraits as frontispieces, but was more expert as an engraver of writing; his engraved portraits show more mechanical than artistic skill, and are mostly copied from older engravings. Among these were those of Ben Jonson, prefixed to the folio edition of his works (1692) and copied from Vaughan's engraving in the first edition (1616); John Ray, from a drawing by W. Faithorne, prefixed to his 'Wisdom of God manifested in the Creation' (8vo, 1701); Dr. Mayerne; Dr. Richard Morton, from a picture by Orchard; Charles Snell, writing-master, from a picture by Hargrave; Archbishop Sancroft, Bishop Pearson, the Earl of Oxford, and others. He engraved his own portrait twice, once in a fur cap from a crayon drawing, and again in a wig. He also engraved the plates in Savage's edition of Knolles and Rycaut's 'History of the Turks' (2 vols. London, 1701).
[Strutt's Dict. of Engravers; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painters, ed. Dallaway and Wornum; Vertue MSS. (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 23078).]