Henry Bradbury
Encyclopedia
The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland
The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland was a book published in 1855 that featured 51 plates of nature printing by Henry Bradbury.-Description:The text was a scientific description of all the varieties of Ferns found in the British Isles...
with author Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore (botanist)
Thomas Moore was a gardener and botanist from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. An expert on ferns and fern allies from the British Isles, he served as Curator of the Society of Apothecaries Garden from 1848 to 1887...
and editor John Lindley
John Lindley
John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...
published in 1855 and using the new technique of nature printing
Nature printing
Nature printing is a printing process, developed in the 18th century, that uses the plants, animals, rocks and other natural subjects to produce an image...
invented by Alois Auer
Alois Auer
Alois Auer, born 1813 in Wels, Austria, died 11 June 1869; was a printer, inventor and botanical illustrator, most active during the 1840s and 1850s. He produced a number of works in German and other languages, including the first regarding the nature printing process. He was the director of the...
and Andreas Worring in 1852 and improved by Bradbury. The technique consisted of pressing a leafy specimen onto a thin, soft lead plate, leaving an intaglio
Intaglio (printmaking)
Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate, and the incised line or area holds the ink. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or...
impression with very fine detail. Bradbury had studied Auer's discovery in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and had patented his own version in London, without acknowledging that the idea had originated with Auer. The resulting controversy drove Bradbury into despondency and he committed suicide by drinking acid.