Author(s): A DINOTO and D WINTER

General/Other

These days, trend-conscious tastemakers from Martha Stewart to the Pottery Barn are celebrating the art of the botanical specimen. Although this art form has enjoyed popularity for centuries, this beautiful and lavishly illustrated book is the first to present botanical specimens, herbaria, and nature prints as artworks to be collected -- and even created anew.

This engaging interpretation of the colorful history of plant collection traces its progress from a hazardous natural science on 18th-century explorations, to a fad among Victorian-era ladies and clergyman, to a keen pursuit for today's art collectors, garden enthusiasts, and crafters.

The Pressed Plant offers a thorough representation of different art forms consisting of or created with actual plants: botanical specimens, in which parts of or entire plants are attached to archival paper; herbaria, or bound books holding a variety of plant specimens; nature prints, images made directly frown plants; and sun prints, which are produced when a plant is placed on light-sensitive paper and exposed to the sun. A detailed appendix includes instructions, sources for materials, and a collector's buying guide.