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Constantin von Ettingshausen was Austrian physician and botanist with a keen interest in the technique of nature printing. In 1871 he was appointed professor of botany at Graz, a position he held until his death in 1897. A contemporary of Henry Bradbury and Alois Auer, the principal proponents of this exotic form of printing, he worked with Pokorny to improve nature printing techniques. This improvement can certainly be seen in the prints we have to offer, as it is like having the leaf actually embedded on the page, with the imprint of all the parts making a curious Braille of nature, as it were.
Ettingshausen produced the most important body of nature printed work and these prints are rare indeed and of an elegance that is strikingly contemporary. (References include Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_von_Ettingshausen)
It is from die Physiotypia Plantarum Austriacarum. Der Naturselbstdruck in seiner Anwendung auf die Gefässpflanzen des Österreichischen Kaiserstaates published in Vienna in 1856 that we are offering the current selection of nature printed botanicals. Each print is on a sumptuous, fine heavy paper with strong plate marks, and is a soft white. The measurements are approximately 15 by 22 1/4 inches, and there is some foxing as shown, with most in the margins. The nature printing process results in images that are remarkably true to life, with the leaf captured for eternity, even after nearly 150 years have passed.
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