Anna Atkins cyanotypes

Anna Atkins’s pioneering images, clockwise from top left: “Peacock” (1861), “Laminaria phyllitis” (1844-45), “Papaver rhoeas” (1861), and “Alaria esculenta” (1849-50). via Hans P. Kraus Jr., New York (top left and bottom right); The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

Atkins’s “Dictyota dichotoma,” in the young state and in fruit, from Part XI of “Photographs of British Algae” 1849-50. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

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“Furcellaria fastigiata,” from Part IV, version 2 of “Photographs of British Algae,” 1846 or later. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations