Tanner, Benjamin (27 March 1775–14 November 1848), engraver, was born in New York City. Little is known of his early life except for his childhood aptitude in drawing, which led to an apprenticeship in his teens to a French engraver in New York named Peter C. Verger. Tanner’s earliest known engravings date from 1792; three years later, while still with Verger, he engraved six folio plates to illustrate Paul Wright’s ...