How botany helped give birth to photography

A survey of early photography at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (New Realities: Photography in the 19th Century, 17 June-17 September) will focus on the noisy century of the medium, says the shows curator, Mattie Boom. Around 300 pictures from the museums collection of more than 150,000 photographs will be included. Here, Boom discusses Anna Atkinss Seaweed Studies (184353), a key work in the exhibition."This extremely rare book is an important recent acquisition for the Rijksmuseum. The album doc