Polygonum Ampihibium

by ETTINGSHAUSEN, Constantin Freiherr Von (1826-1897), and POKORNY, Alois (1826-1886)

$250 · Offered by Biblio

Vienna: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1856. 'Nature printed' in brown ink, with titling and imprint in black, by the Vienna Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. Very good condition apart from some minor foxing in the margins and very light soiling in the left side of the image. A beautiful example from "most important work produced by nature printing ever published" (Stafleu). To the modern eye this plate has an almost photographic beauty to it, which, in aesthetic terms, foreshadows the work of the great early-20th century photographers such as Man Ray. However, this achievement is almost certainly incidental as von Ettingshausen's intention was to present a detailed anatomical portrait using the highly exacting method of nature printing. John Lindley writes "Attempts were long since made to obtain Botanical portraits by printing from the plants themselves, flattened and otherwise prepared for the purpose... The process of the Imperial Printing Office [Hof- und Staatsdruckerei] at Vienna, to which the name of Nature-Printing has been happily applied.. is a great improvement upon the old method, inasmuch as it represents not only general form with absolute accuracy, but also surface, hairs, veins, and other minutiae of superficial structure by which plants are known irrespective of the hidden details of their hidden organization. Moreover, an exact copy in copper of the part to be represented being employed by the printer, instead of so fragile an object as the plant itself, we obtain the m

• Publisher: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei
• Year: 1856
• Binding: unknown

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