Anderson was responsible for reviving line engraving as a mode of original graphic expression, when it had become all but obsolete. He learned the process as an apprentice to a heraldic engraver, but initially achieved fame as an etcher and drypointist in the renaissance of British etching during and after World War I. In 1929 he turned his skills to engraving on a copper plate, and he will chiefly be remembered for his engravings of English rural crafts dating from 1932, for which he was made CBE in 1951.