Henry Beston had originally planned to spend just two weeks in a seaside cottage, but was so possessed by the mysterious beauty of his surroundings that he found he "could not go."Instead, he sat down to try and capture in words the wonders of the magical landscape he found himself in thrall to: the migrations of seabirds, the rhythms of the tide, the windblown dunes, and the scatter of stars in the changing sky. Beston argued that, "The world today is sick to its thin blood for the lack of elemental things, for fire before the hands, for water, for air, for the dear earth itself underfoot." Seventy-five years after they were first published, Beston's words are more true than ever.

    His work influenced and helped to establish modern German photography. While the style of the time was soft-focus, impressionistic photographs, Blossfeldt's purpose governed his photographic method and resulting magnificent prints: direct lighting to define form, sharp focus to expose detail and texture, enlarging up to 27 times actual size to reveal structure that previously was invisible or overlooked by the naked eye. His subject matter ― the leaves, buds, stems, seed pods, tendrils, and twigs of plant life ― sparkles with an honest simplicity and clarity that discloses not only the wonder and science of nature, but also the distinct similarities between the form developed by nature and that produced by man. In the infinite variety of form in the plant world, Blossfeldt found many examples of shape and structure that, when photographed his way, resemble the forms of man's artistic (particularly architectural) styles ― from Gothic through Art Nouveau. His images imply that man's art mirrors nature and suggest that nature, in its continuous reproduction and adaptation, also creates its own art. Blossfeldt's exquisite and historically important photographs continue to be prominently exhibited and acclaimed throughout the world. Painstakingly reproduced for this edition, his 120 unretouched plates will delight artists and illustrators, naturalists and philosophers, photographers, and anyone who is intrigued by the beauty, form, and design of nature.