English botanical artist and photographer Anna Atkins (1799 – 1871) is historically famous for being the first person ever to publish a book that had been illustrated with photographic images. This book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843) is being reprinted for the first time in full, in a new edition merging together her other album on Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns (1853).
A 19th-century female photography pioneer, some speculate that Atkins may have been the first woman ever to create a photograph, although it is unclear if Constance Fox Talbot actually claimed this title first. Atkins was, however, the first woman to use the fledgling medium of photography for scientific purposes.
