A British botanist turned seaweed into delicate white silhouettes on brilliant blue pages—and helped invent a new kind of book.
Anna Atkins began making cyanotypes of British algae in 1843. She placed specimens on light-sensitive paper and exposed it to light. The plant left a pale silhouette on deep blue paper. The New York Public Library says Atkins arranged and developed images of more than 400 specimens, sending the plates to botanical acquaintances in installments.
Her self-published Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions is recognized as the first photographically illustrated book. The process was useful as well as beautiful: the prints could show the shape of a specimen without an artist redrawing it. Atkins worked in a field where women had limited access to professional science, and she combined botanical knowledge with a relatively new photographic technique.
Each page is both an image and a record: a plant pressed into light, preserving a moment of careful observation.