The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of Photographs

Description

An ALSC Notable Children's Book A Junior Library Guild Selection A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year A gorgeous picture book biography of botanist and photographer Anna Atkins--the first person to ever publish a book of photography After losing her mother very early in life, Anna Atkins (1799-1871) was raised by her loving father. He gave her a scientific education, which was highly unusual for women and girls in the early 19th century. Fascinated with the plant life around her, Anna became a botanist. She recorded all her findings in detailed illustrations and engravings, until the invention of cyanotype photography in 1842. Anna used this new technology in order to catalogue plant specimens-a true marriage of science and art. In 1843, Anna published the book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions with handwritten text and cyanotype photographs. It is considered the first book of photographs ever published. Weaving together histories of women, science, and art, The Bluest of Blues will inspire young readers to embark on their own journeys of discovery and creativity.

Fiona Robinson is the author/illustrator of Ada's Ideas, Whale Shines, What Animals Really Like, The Useful Moose, and The 3-2-3 Detective Agency. Her work has been honored by the Royal Academy of Arts and has been featured in many gallery shows. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.

"An amalgamation of fiction and biography, The Bluest of Blues tells the life story of Anne Atkins, botanist and photographer, whose Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions is widely regarded as the first book of photographs ever published and provides a diligent survey and classification of British seaweed. Encouraged by her scientist father, Atkins began by drawing specimens before learning to use a camera, and Sir John Herschel introduced her to the cyanotype process, which used sunlight to create blue images. Fiona Robinson reproduces some of these alongside her own delicate, scintillating multimedia illustrations, almost exclusively in shades of blue. Her book celebrates the life and work of a little-known and, it seems, very modest female pioneer whose contributions to science are only just now being recognised." -- Financial Times "This picture book biography explores the life of British botanist and photographer Anna Atkins who was the first person to ever publish a book of photography. Fascinating and beautiful." -- WRD magazine "The illustrations are just as beautiful as Atkins's originals. This book is truly a celebration of the places where art and science intersect." -- - Romper "Beautifully illustrated in its own right, using the cyanotype style as a launching point, Robinson deftly incorporates artistically playful creativity into the mix. Combining her own drawings and cyanotypes with reproductions of Anna Atkins' illustrations, the pages fill with well-designed montages of expression and imagination." -- - New York Review of Books "This utterly fascinating story of Anna and her life is a piece of art in itself, picked out in the trademark blue hues of cyanotype, with masterful and glorious illustrations complimenting the details of Anna's lifelong love of plants." -- - Read It Daddy "You may not have heard of Anna Atkins, but she made the first book of photographs ever published - way back in the 19th century. Now her incredible life as an early female scientist has been turned into a gorgeous new storybook" -- BookTrust "Robinson's book mimics the colour palette of a cyanotype, and the illustrations are exquisite. Readers of an artistic persuasion will be dying to try printing themselves, instructions for which are given at the end of the book." -- Irish Times "Author Fiona Robinson captures and celebrates this instinctive curiosity for the natural world in her picture book biography, The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of Photographs. Young readers can follow Anna as she develops from artist to scientist and finally photographer, preserving her discoveries for generations to come." -- The Scotsman