Fascinating account of Anna Atkins, a pioneer in Victorian England leading to a number of innovations in photography and ground breaking publications by her. The publications initially were anonymous as it wasn’t deemed appropriate for a woman author. Well illustrated. Thank you to the author. Thank you to # NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I have only just discovered the work and life of Anna Atkins and this book is a fascinating insight into her work and the history of photography.
The whole book is so interesting and well written with just the right amount of photographs and illustrations to support the text.
I will be recommending it to our YA buyer at the library.

Anna Atkins: Photographer, Naturalist, Innovator by Corey Keller is an attractive and informative book that highlights Atkins' accomplishments while contextualizing them within the society of the time.

My knowledge of Atkins was minimal before this book, a short mention in a book about science/nature illustrations through the ages with one image. I remember looking up some more images but that was about it. Keller offers us not just what is known about her life and works but does an excellent job, largely through insets throughout the book, of highlighting what society and culture was like at the time.

The images, as one expects, are wonderful throughout, showcasing not just the photographs she is most known for but many drawings she did that are excellent as well.

The pictures make this an excellent coffee table book but the size lets it also fit on most shelves quite easily, it is oversize but not extremely (8x10.5).

Highly recommended for both those interested in the history of photography and/or the history of nature illustration. And for those who love attractive books to display that will also spark conversation, this is an excellent choice. As an aside, because I almost always supplement my reading with online searches, there are some wonderful videos on YT about Atkins and her photography.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

This is a beautifully written and informative book on Anna Atkins. While I was hoping for more in-depth information specifically about her life and work, I understand the limitations of available historical material. That said, the book offers a rich historical context, providing a broader overview of the time period in which she lived. I especially appreciated the sections that detailed her photographic process—they added valuable insight into her contributions to both science and art. Overall, an engaging and thoughtful read.

A really beautiful booklet where the admiration for Anna Atkins transpires from every word. The work of this pioneer of photography is incredible per se, but the development of the volume and the precise, simple but emotional narration of her life makes it even more enjoyable. Highly recommended to discover more about women pioneers in science.

I had never heard of this remarkable woman -- I am so glad to learn about her. She was the first person to combine art and science to create the first photographically illustrated book! Later, a man got credit for it but his photos have degraded over the years, while hers did not. She created cyanotype images in 1840's. Her mother died very young and she was very close to her father. At that time, women were encouraged to collect shells, seaweed and ferns. Women could study botany but not other sciences. This was a time of the rise of botanical gardens and other technologies such as magic lanterns, microscopes, camera obscura, etc. The book contains excerpts of her book as well as her photos throughout. There are also brief and very informative sections on the industrial revolution and the Victorian era. The book also shows how her work influenced contemporary artists such as Francesca Woodman. I am so glad Anna Atkins is finally getting her due!

Thank you to Netgalley and Getty Publications for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

For some reason billed as being for a teenaged audience, this takes us back to the early Victorian years, and when a humble but very dogged and very intelligent woman created an album of photos of British seaweeds. She did it through cyanotype – taking a paper prepared with chemicals, placing her subject upon it, giving it enough sunlight and then a wash to remove the other chemicals – and ending up with a white-on-blue portrait. And she had to do this process for every image, and over and over again for every copy, of her album. There was no reproducing photos at this stage, as she had to 'shoot' them afresh for every copy, but either way she made the world's first photographically-illustrated book.

Forget the bizarre creation of her piece, which was designed to accompany a textbook about seaweeds, yet had to come out in dribs and drabs over ten years and in most certainly the wrong order, just as and when she had the specimens. For this takes us back to the pre-photography days, shows us what science thought of women wanting to know science, and so much more. It's definitely all an average reader would want to learn about the subject, teenaged or not, and it's mighty fine stuff. I mean it is hard to review the book when the topic is so great, and you so want to be the person to discover some previously-unknown works by this creator, who did some wonderful illustrations, this (under a subscription model), a book about her beloved dad, and then some gift commissions, and nothing else that we know of. If I give this four stars it kind of belittles the import of its subject. Five blazing stars might be too much, but this isn't far off – the chance to meet with Anna Atkins and her family and loved ones is to be welcomed. Consummately presented, this is well worth investigating.