A01=Corey Keller
algae
Anna Atkins Keywordsart
Anne Dixon
Author_Corey Keller
biography
blue prints
botany
Category=YNA
Category=YNB
Category=YNMF
cyanotype
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eq_childrens
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_teenage-young-adult
female
fern fever
ferns
gender roles
girls
herbariumJohn Herschel
history
Julia Margaret Cameron
photosynthesis
pioneer
plants
Royal Society
seaweed
sun prints
Victorian era
William Henry Fox Talbot
women
Product details
- ISBN 9781947440111
- Dimensions: 216 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 21 Oct 2025
- Publisher: Getty Trust Publications
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Step into the world of Anna Atkins (1799-1871), perhaps the world's first female photographer and a pioneer of the medium. She lived an existence full of heartache and triumph, from her mother's death when Atkins was an infant to her publication of multiple photographic books as an adult. After the passing of her mother, Atkins was raised primarily by her father and grandfather, who placed an emphasis on both her emotional and intellectual growth. As a result, she spent her life surrounded by some of the greatest inventors of Victorian England during the Industrial Revolution.
Despite societal gender norms of the era, which typically limited women to a life within the home, Atkins gained the respect of the scientific community with her ambitious multivolume album Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, now recognized as the world's first photographically illustrated book. Her cyanotypes, in addition to their scientific accuracy, added artistic beauty to her publications, setting the stage for new uses of this already experimental technology. In an era replete with state-of-the-art inventions and innovative ideas, Atkins pushed photography forward in its earliest days with courage, creativity, and brilliance.
Ages thirteen and up.
Corey Keller is a historian of photography with a particular interest in nineteenth-century science. Based in Oakland, California, she was a curator at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) for nearly two decades.
