British Seaweeds by Bradbury

”The Nature-printed British Sea-weeds: A history accompanied by figures and dissections, of the algae of the British Isles” (Henry Bradbury, 1859-1860)

In 1859, the English printer Henry Bradbury published his work The Nature-printed British Sea-weeds. Bradbury was quick to borrow the method for so-called “nature printing” from the Austrian printer Alois Auer, who had just a few years prior published a work with instructions for a process of using plant or animal material directly to produce a print. Bradbury placed the seaweeds between a plate of steel and another of lead, both of which were smooth and polished. The plates were then drawn through a pair of rollers under considerable pressure. When the plates were separated, a perfect impression of the object had been made in the leaden plate. The lead plate was then hand-coloured and transferred to the final print.