Annibale wrote:

Actually, there is a lot of good information buried on the plates in
books, and not referred to by many librarians or bibliographers. One of
the reasons I like the AAS[MWA] catalog so much is that they almost
always list the draftsman and the printmaker, as well as the names of
all the craftsmen involved in a book including the printer and
stereotyper. That gives their descriptions a lot of currency. They also
will mention the changing address of any of these as an aid to
establishing the issue or date of publication.


I concur. The American Antiquarian Society's catalogue is a marvel.
It is jam-packed with information. If your item falls within their
purview, their catalogue is definitely worth checking out:

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/library.htm

William M. Klimon
http://www.gateofbliss.com