As a young boy, he was inspired by illustrator Lynd Ward, writing him a fan letter in his teen years that evolved into a lifelong friendship and collaboration.

From 1960 to 1966, McCurdy attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, where he completed his first wood engraving in 1963 and met his longtime friend and collaborator Robert Hauser.

A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, McCurdy worked for two years as an orderly in the orthopedic ward at Children's Hospital in Boston to fulfill his alternative service.

Penmaen Press published many high quality literary works, including first-edition poetry, fiction, and translation by leading American and European writers and poets.

Engravers who submitted self-portraits for this were McCurdy, Fred Becker, Jack Coughlin, John DePol, Fritz Eichenberg, Raymond Gloeckler, James Grashow, Judith Jaidinger, Stefan Martin, Barry Moser, Gillian Tyler, and Herbert Waters.

Books of note for which McCurdy provided illustrations include The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono (1985), an illustrated version of The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln (1995), American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne (1991), Lucy’s Summer and Lucy’s Christmas by United States Poet Laureate Donald Hall, Tales of Adam by Daniel Quinn, and a limited edition of American Buffalo by David Mamet (1992).

Throughout his career, McCurdy illustrated several books and items relating to Walden by Henry David Thoreau, including a sesquicentennial edition published in 2004 with 50 new wood engravings.

McCurdy also authored numerous books, including Toward the Light (a collection of his wood engravings with accompanying anecdotes, published in Canada), The Illustrated Harvard: Harvard University in Wood Engravings and Words (1986), The Devils Who Learned to be Good, Hannah's Farm: The Seasons on an Early American Homestead, The Old Man and the Fiddle, Trapped by the Ice: Shackleton's Amazing Antarctic Adventure and An Algonquian Year: The Year According to the Full Moon.