Henry Riley Bradbury (20 September 1829 – 2 September 1860) was an English writer on printing.

Works

Bradbury is known for his book ''

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. Description The text was a scientific description of all the varieties of ferns found in the British Isles ...

'' with author

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852), was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who was widely regarded as Ireland's "National poet, national bard" during the late Georgian era. The acclaim rested primarily on the popularity of his ''I ...

and editor

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

published in 1855. It used the innovative technique of nature printing invented by

Alois Auer Alois Auer (11 May 1813 – 10 July 1869) was an Austrian printer, inventor and botanical illustrator, most active during the 1840s and 1850s. He produced a number of works in German and other languages, including the first regarding the nature p ...

and Andreas Worring in 1852 and improved by Bradbury. The technique consisted of pressing a leafy specimen onto a thin, soft lead plate, leaving an intaglio impression with very fine detail.

Life

He was the oldest son of five children of a printer, William Bradbury (1799–1869) and his wife, Sarah, and brother of

William Hardwick Bradbury William Hardwick Bradbury (December 1832 – 13 October 1892) was a printer and publisher and a partner in the firm Bradbury and Evans, Bradbury, Evans & Co.Patten, Robert LWilliam Hardwick Bradbury (1832-1882) Oxford Dictionary of National Bi ...

with whom he went into business in publishing. From 1856 he took an interest in the security aspects of banknote printing, and set up the business Bradbury & Wilkinson. Bradbury had studied Auer's discovery in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and had patented his own version in London. After being accused of plagiarism by Auer, Bradbury took his own life by drinking acid.'Plant, Exploring the Botanical World' (Phaidon Press, 2016)

Notes

External links

Images from ''Nature-Printed British Ferns''
English scientific illustrators 1829 births 1860 deaths British botanical illustrators 1860s suicides Suicides by poison Suicides in the United Kingdom {{UK-printmaker-stub