At the dawn of the Victorian era in her open-air laboratory in Halstead, Kent, embarked on a to document botanical species using a completely . The inimitable cyanotype photograms of algae and ferns she created were made into the first books to feature photographic images. , these albums are a . Although the cyanotype technique was discovered by her friend John Herschel, Atkins was the first to realize both its for her own interests in botany and taxonomy, and its . The process, which involved fixing the object on sensitized paper and exposing it directly to sunlight, results in the that forms the unmistakeable backdrop to these artworks. Atkins’ albums (1843–1853) and (1853), the latter of which was produced with her friend Anne Dixon, are works of remarkable rarity. Reprinted here in their entirety for the first time, they reveal her : While the cyanotype process allowed Atkins to meet the challenges of accurate representation, the delicate contours of the specimens, set above the intense blue background, has lent the images a timeless aesthetic appeal. This , drawing extensively from the copies of the New York Public Library and J. Paul Getty Museum, has to reprint Atkins’ seminal works in full. are accompanied by a series of introductory essays from Peter Walther, placing Atkins’ work in its scientific and art-historical contexts and paying rightful tribute to the groundbreaking contributions of a female pioneer.