Publisher: Prestel, in association with The New York Public Library and DelMonico Books
Publication Date: November 5, 2018
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
Length: 216 pages
ISBN-10: 3791357980
ISBN-13: 978-3791357980
Dimensions: 10.13 × 1.13 × 12.56 inches
Recognition: One of The New York Times Best Photo Books of 2018
This lavishly illustrated volume celebrates the beautiful and scientifically significant photographs of Anna Atkins (1799–1871), whose groundbreaking work merged a passion for botany with extraordinary creativity and technical skill.
Growing up in Victorian England—a period of intense scientific curiosity—Atkins was mentored by her father, a prominent scientist, and inspired by her friend William Henry Fox Talbot, one of photography’s pioneers. Encouraged by Sir John Herschel, the inventor of the cyanotype process (1842), Atkins began creating cyanotypes to document her herbarium. The result was Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843), the first book ever illustrated with photographs.
A decade later, Atkins and her close friend Anne Dixon expanded their visual explorations to include flowering plants, feathers, and other natural forms.
This revised and expanded edition revives a long out-of-print monograph that first established Atkins’s place in the history of photography. Drawing on years of research, it situates her work in its scientific and artistic contexts. Supplementary essays offer fresh insights into her practice and the enduring legacy of the cyanotype process, still used by artists today.
The photographs—ethereal, deeply hued, and intricately detailed—are reproduced with exceptional fidelity, introducing a new generation to Atkins’s visionary achievement.
Publisher: Prestel, in association with The New York Public Library and DelMonico Books
Publication Date: November 5, 2018
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
Length: 216 pages
ISBN-10: 3791357980
ISBN-13: 978-3791357980
Dimensions: 10.13 × 1.13 × 12.56 inches
Recognition: One of The New York Times Best Photo Books of 2018
This lavishly illustrated volume celebrates the beautiful and scientifically significant photographs of Anna Atkins (1799–1871), whose groundbreaking work merged a passion for botany with extraordinary creativity and technical skill.
Growing up in Victorian England—a period of intense scientific curiosity—Atkins was mentored by her father, a prominent scientist, and inspired by her friend William Henry Fox Talbot, one of photography’s pioneers. Encouraged by Sir John Herschel, the inventor of the cyanotype process (1842), Atkins began creating cyanotypes to document her herbarium. The result was Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843), the first book ever illustrated with photographs.
A decade later, Atkins and her close friend Anne Dixon expanded their visual explorations to include flowering plants, feathers, and other natural forms.
This revised and expanded edition revives a long out-of-print monograph that first established Atkins’s place in the history of photography. Drawing on years of research, it situates her work in its scientific and artistic contexts. Supplementary essays offer fresh insights into her practice and the enduring legacy of the cyanotype process, still used by artists today.
The photographs—ethereal, deeply hued, and intricately detailed—are reproduced with exceptional fidelity, introducing a new generation to Atkins’s visionary achievement.
