Sir John Herschel, a friend of Atkins and Children, invented the cyanotype photographic process

in 1842.[1] Within a year, Atkins applied the process to algae (specifically, seaweed) by making
cyanotype photograms that were contact printed[1] "by placing the unmounted dried-algae original
directly on the cyanotype paper."[5]

Detail of title page of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions

Atkins self-published her photograms in the first installment of Photographs of British Algae:
Cyanotype Impressions in October 1843.[2] Although privately published, with a limited number of
copies, and with handwritten text, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions is
considered the first book illustrated with photographic images. [2][3][4][17]
Eight months later, in June 1844, the first fascicle of William Henry Fox Talbot's The Pencil of
Nature was released; that book was the "first photographically illustrated book to be
commercially published"[18] or "the first commercially published book illustrated with
photographs."[19]
Atkins produced a total of three volumes of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype
Impressionsbetween 1843 and 1853.[20] Only 17 copies of the book are known to exist, in various
states of completeness.[21] Copies are now held by the following institutions, among others:[5][7]

British Library, London, which provides scans of 429 pages of its copy (which has extra
plates) online[22]

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland[23]

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York[24]

New York Public Library,[25] which provides scans of 285 pages of its copy online[26]

Royal Society, London, whose copy with 403 pages and 389 plates is thought to be the
only existing copy of the book as Atkins intended[21][27]

Victoria & Albert Museum London houses a number of original works in their library.

The Linnean Society of London,[28] whose copy lacks part 7 of volume 1.

Because of the book's rarity and historical importance, it is quite expensive. One copy of the
book with 411 plates in three volumes sold for 133,500 at auction in 1996.[7][20]Another copy with
382 prints in two volumes which was owned by scientist Robert Hunt (18071887) sold for
229,250 at auction in 2004.[21]

Later life and work[edit]

Cyanotype photogram of Wood Horsetail from the 1853 bookCyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns by
Atkins and Dixon

In the 1850s, Atkins collaborated with Anne Dixon (17991864), who was "like a sister" to her, to
produce at least three presentation albums of cyanotype photograms:[5]

Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns (1853), now in the J. Paul Getty Museum;

Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns (1854), disassembled
pages of which are held by various museums and collectors;

An album inscribed to "Captain Henry Dixon," Anne Dixon's nephew (1861).

In addition, she published books with non-photographic work. [29][30]

She died at Halstead Place in 1871 of "paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion" at the age of 72