Papillons Européens

Papillons Européens: Nocturnes, Crépusculaires, et Diurnes demonstrates a method of recording specimens that predates photography: the nature print. With a nature print, the specimen itself is used to make an impression so that, as with photography, there is an indexical relationship between the object and its representation. This example, from 1890, shows that nature printing continued to be used well after the introduction of photographic technologies. Here, watercolour paints have been added to the prints.

Nature printing could also be achieved photographically, a process that was popular in the early decades of photography. The British botanist Anna Atkins is well known for her prints (cyanotypes) of botanical specimens. Atkins published her photographs in 1843 as Photographs of British Algae: cyanotype impressions, and is today considered one of the first to produce a photographically-illustrated book.