What is "nature printing"

Nature \Na"ture\ (?; 135), n. [F., fr. L. natura, fr. natus born, produced, p. p. of nasci to be born. See Nation.]

1. The existing system of things; the universe of matter, energy, time and space; the physical world; all of creation. Contrasted with the world of mankind, with its mental and social phenomena.

   But looks through nature up to nature's God.
   --Pope.

   When, in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bonds which have connected them with another, ans to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal Station which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to the Separation.
   --Declaration of Independence

   Nature has caprices which art can not imitate.
   --Macaulay.

2. The personified sum and order of causes and effects; the powers which produce existing phenomena, whether in the total or in detail; the agencies which carry on the processes of creation or of being; -- often conceived of as a single and separate entity, embodying the total of all finite agencies and forces as disconnected from a creating or ordering intelligence; as, produced by nature; the forces of nature.

   I oft admire How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit Such disproportions.
   --Milton.

3. The established or regular course of things; usual order of events; connection of cause and effect.

4. Conformity to that which is natural, as distinguished from that which is artificial, or forced, or remote from actual experience.

   One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
   --Shak.

5. The sum of qualities and attributes which make a person or thing what it is, as distinct from others; native character; inherent or essential qualities or attributes; peculiar constitution or quality of being.

   Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem, Their nature also to thy nature join, And be thyself man among men on earth.
   --Milton.

6. Hence: Kind, sort; character; quality.

   A dispute of this nature caused mischief.
   --Dryden.

7. Physical constitution or existence; the vital powers; the natural life. ``My days of nature.''
   --Shak.

   Oppressed nature sleeps.
   --Shak.

8. Natural affection or reverence.

   Have we not seen The murdering son ascend his parent's bed, Through violated nature force his way?
   --Pope.

9. Constitution or quality of mind or character. A born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick. --Shak. That reverence which is due to a superior nature. --Addison. Good nature, Ill nature. see under Good and Ill. In a state of nature.

   1. Naked as when born; nude.

   2. In a condition of sin; unregenerate.

   3. Untamed; uncivilized.

      Nature printing, a process of printing from metallic or other plates which have received an impression, as by heavy pressure, of an object such as a leaf, lace, or the like.

      Nature worship, the worship of the personified powers of nature.

      To pay the debt of nature, to die.

n. A printing process that produces an impression of plants, animals, rocks, or other natural subjects.

Nature printing is a printing process, developed in the 18th century, that uses the plants, animals, rocks and other natural subjects to produce an image. The subject undergoes several stages to give a direct impression onto materials such as lead, gum, and photographic plates, which are then used in the printing process.

While some sources state that Benjamin Franklin invented nature printing from leaf casts, using a copper plate press, in 1737 to thwart counterfeiters of paper money bills, other sources also report Franklin's friend, Philadelphia naturalist Joseph Breintnall, to have made contact nature prints from leaves about 1730. Together they sent nature prints which were printed directly from inked leaves to English naturalists.

Another person attributed with the invention of the process, Naturselbstdruck, is Alois Auer; the first publication, of instructions for the process, was by this Austrian printer in The Discovery of the Natural Printing Process: an Invention ... Vienna, 1853. This was written in four languages by the author. He shows the use of plants, a fossil fish, and lace impressed by roller onto a lead plate, this is hand coloured and transferred to the final print. Many others botanical and natural history illustrations had attempted to use techniques that were a 'shorthand', or for a type of accuracy, in the representation of subjects. Another printer, the Englishman Henry Bradbury, immediately used Auer's 'nature printing' process to publish work of his own. These included two major botanical works;

• The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland, Moore, Thomas.(1857) and the rendition of these species was readily adapted to the process; the two dimensional print would reveal form and detail for the identification of species.
• The Nature-Printed British Sea-Weeds, W.G. Johnstone & A. Croall. 1859-60.

Sherman Denton in his book As Nature Shows Them: Moths and Butterflies ... used the wings of the species he was describing by pressing them into the page itself. For this work he used over 50,000 insects.