Anna Atkins, Botanist, Photographer

2013-09-01
design

A cyanotype photogram of Woodland horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum) made by Anna Atkins and Anne Dixon in 1853, from their book <em>Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns</em>

I stumbled on the bio of Anna Children Atkins, a 19th century botanist, artist, and photographer. She may very well have been the first female photographer and is noted for publishing the first book illustrated with photographs. According to Wikipedia,

… she self-published her photograms in the first installment ofPhotographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in October 1843. Although privately published, with a limited number of copies, and with handwritten text, This book is considered the first book illustrated with photographic images. [1]

Read more about Anna Atkins on Wikipedia.

[1] Parr, Martin; Gerry Badger (2004). The photobook, a history, Volume I. London: Phaidon. ISBN 0-7148-4285-0.

This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.