Anna Atkins - the first photobook

A lot of people think of Artists Books as photo or painting books. While this is true some of the time, photobooks themselves are a category of their own. The modern photo book is largely due to the work of one woman, Anna Atkins.

Oh, and did I mention she made cyanotypes?

Aperture magazine is a great resource for all you photo nerds (so is B&H if you haven't found that online yet!). Last year (2019), Aperture published a great article on Anna Atkins and photo books....

...and it is an awesome read...

https://aperture.org/blog/anna-atkins/

Photo credit: Anna Atkins,Alaria esculenta, 1848–49, from the bookPhotographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions

Courtesy The New York Public Library (and taken from Aperture magazine online)

#fbac #fbacblog #cyanotypes #annaatkins #photobooks