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

This picture-book biography follows Anna Atkins from her early interest in shells, plants, and insects in nineteenth-century England to her work as a botanist. She made carefully labeled drawings before experimenting with photography. After learning the cyanotype process, which uses chemicals and sunlight to make blue images on paper, she recorded her seaweed collection. Her three-volume publication, begun in 1843, became the first published book made with photographs. The book also includes information about her life and instructions for making cyanotypes.