Ocean Flowers: Impressions from Nature, Carol Armstrong, Catherine de Zegher (Editors), $130
The editors present a collection of historical natural imagery from the mid-nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on botanical drawings and photograms by the artist Anna Atkins (1799-1871) and her Victorian contemporaries. The book illuminates intriguing shifts in the way the botanical world was represented before the availability of photography. There are 200 color hand-made drawings, hand-colored prints, nature prints (direct imprints from plants), and natural botanical illustrations (real specimens mounted on the page). Included are essays by the coeditors, as well as by the artist Craigie Horsfield and scholars Edward Eigen, Elaine Scarry, and Kathryn Tuma.