Blanc, Albert A.–(1850-1928)–Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–was born in Belgium in 1850, and came to the United States in the early 1870s.   He began as a cactus dealer and illustrated plant lists with his own woodcuts.  His Hints on Cacti, a combination cultural guide and trade catalog, was published in 1886.  It was the first cactus catalog published in the United States.  He expanded a hobby into the world’s largest cactus nursery, and was considered to be the person responsible for starting the cactus craze of the 1890s.  Other dealers were impressed with his illustrations, and by the 1890s he was selling thousands of illustrations to American and European companies.
Sources: CP; Mitich; Mitich2; Mitich3