The botanical works of Mrs. Anna Atkins in Cyanotype
“The difficulty of making accurate drawings of objects so minute as many of the Algae and Confervae has induced me to avail myself of Sir John Herschel's beautiful process of cyanotype to obtain impressions of the plants themselves, which I have much pleasure in offering to my botanical friends.” A. A.
In celebration of Mrs. Anna Atkins’ 220th birthday (16 March 1799) and the New York Public Library exhibition “Blueprints - The Pioneering Photographs of Anna Atkins” (October 19, 2018 - February 17, 2019) we have compiled into a single PDF & ePub volume the fourteen available (of the sixteen published) works of Mrs. Atkins’ Photographs of British Algae – Cyanotype Impressions. The New York Public Library has scanned and made publicly available the cyanotype images of these books from the Spencer Collection and include Parts I, II, IV, an alternate Part IV, Parts V - XII, and Volumes I & III. Missing from the scanned Spencer Collection are Part III and Volume II. Included in this compilation are all of these scanned cyanotype plates from Mrs. Atkins' books with a preface titled ‘Cyanotype Reproductions of Seaweeds’ which was read by Mr. Wm. Lang before the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow on 6th November, 1889. In this reading Lang discusses the botanical photographic work of Mrs. Anna Atkins, the process she used, and the clarity and longevity of the image plates themselves.
This compiled collection is available in both Portable Document Format (PDF) and eBook/ePub format. Viewing the eBook/ePub versions are best with either Apple Books for iOS & Macintosh systems or Google Play Books for Android systems.
Download the Collection:
Photographs of British Algae — Cyanotype Impressions
PDF Format (123MB)
eBook Format (234MB)
Links:
New York Public Library:
https://www.nypl.org
Treasures of The New York Public Library:
Beautiful Impressions: Anna Atkins's British Algae
http://exhibitions.nypl.org/treasures/items/show/49
NYPL Exhibition:
Blue Prints: The Pioneering Photographs of Anna Atkins
https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/blue-prints-pioneering-photographs-anna-atkins
NYPL Scanned Images:
Photographs of British Algae – Cyanotype Impressions
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/photographs-of-british-algae-cyanotype-impressions?keywords=#/?tab=about
NYPL Spencer Collection:
https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/wallach-division/spencer-collection
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/divisions/spencer-collection