Although they never created children’s picture books both Audubon and Blackwell used engraving printing techniques to illustrate scientific books of research into nature. They represent a time were printmaking was a practical form to recreate work on a larger scale, such as books using letter presses for the text or engravings for the imagery aspects.
John James Audubon (1785 - 1851) was an American ornithologist known for his illustrations in his book Birds of America published as a series between the years 1827 - 1838. Audubon was financially dependent on the book being successful, which is was, but it would not have been able to be printed without the help from his wife Lucy Bakewell’s money. In total there were 435 individual life sized prints of different birds and today it is one of the most valuable books, not just in price but for research into ornithology. The engraver Robert Havell based in London printed the imagery, first with aquatint then lithography and the finished prints being hand coloured. Audubon also collaborated with Scottish ornithologist William MacGillivray whom produced the biographies for each bird/ species.
Elizabeth Blackwell (1707 - 1758) was a Scottish botanical illustrator known for her 1735 publication A Curious Herbal. She compiled her illustrations to raise money to pay her husband out of debtors prison, as well he provided the scientific/ common names of the botany in different languages and their possible uses, such as medicine. Blackwell researched and sketched in the Chelsea Physic Garden, with the book being complete with 500 illustrations. She engraved copper plates and then on the printed image hand coloured it. Prior to her publication no other book existed in such detail with diagrams to learn/ study from, leaving a great influence on scientific illustration to come.
References:
https://www.audubon.org/content/john-james-audubon https://www.biography.com/scientist/john-james-audubon https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-birds-of-america https://www.nls.uk/learning-zone/science-and-technology/women-scientists/elizabeth-blackwell https://www.botanicalartandartists.com/about-elizabeth-blackwell.html https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/a-curious-herbal-dandelion Comments are closed.
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