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.

[1] Along with William Grosart Johnstone and Alexander Croall's Nature-Printed British Sea-Weeds (London, 1859–1860), the book featured Bradbury's innovative nature printing process.

Bradbury patented the process after seeing the invention of Alois Auer - though the identity of its inventor grew to be a subject of debate.

In this work the ferns, a plant highly suited to the process, were impressed upon soft lead plates.

The resulting image was in two colours and provided a highly detailed and realistic depiction of the species.