Early Life, Family and Training Born in Edinburgh in 1816, Alexander Johnston was the son of an architect. This familial connection to the structural and the measured likely influenced his early development. At the age of fifteen, his path took a turn toward the precision of fine detail when he was placed with a seal-engraver in his home city. This apprenticeship provided a technical foundation in line and form that would remain a constant throughout his later career. His formal education began in earnest at the Trustees' Academy, where he studied from 1831 to 1834. This period of training…