Formenkunst der Natur. 100 Bildtafeln und Einführung.

First edition, first printing, in the original dust jacket and with three beautiful cyanotypes by an unknown artist laid in.

Outside his work as a teacher in Groß-Lichterfelde, Oskar Prochnow (1884-1934) developed a serious interest in natural history and science. He published numerous monographs and popular articles on biology and evolution, entomology, aviation, meteorology, and natural philosophy, and served as editor of the journal Der Naturforscher (The Natural Scientist).

The present volume, one of his final publications, explored the relationship between nature and art which, 'have often been treated as opposites. Nature is frequently considered the rigid expression of eternal laws independent of man; while in art one revered the free and creative power of the human mind...' He suggests that the one hundred photos published here reveal the 'creative power of nature, indeed of its artistic ability to shape things' and may persuade readers to 'recognise that natural laws and the laws of form constitute our ways of thinking of existence and the beautiful' (introduction). The natural forms represented include coral, diatoms, sea urchin larvae, close-ups of butterfly wings, microscopic plant structures, bark patterns, ice, mineral crystals, and the skins that form on gelatin. Wilson Bentley contributed eight plates of snowflakes but, as Prochnow reports in the introduction, sadly died before publication. Prochnow also states in the introduction that he and his wife, who collaborated on the volume, intentionally avoided images that were similar to those made by Karl Blossfeldt. One of the photos, that of the interior of a vulture bone, was frequently reused, including by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson in his important work On Growth and Form, published in 1917.

Loosely inserted into this copy are three attractive cyanotypes depicting feathery ice crystals on glass, a spiderweb with water droplets, and a leaf with water droplets.

First edition; 4to (303 x 224 mm, 12 x 8¾ in); black & white photographs printed in gravure; foxing to edges of text block and to preliminary and end pages, plain endpapers, lower hinge split, blue cloth-covered boards, titles stamped in gold on spine and upper side, light shelfwear, photo-illustrated dust-jacket, toning and marking to lower panel, several nicks and short tears with some creasing, wear to head and foot of spine, which is rolled, bookplate to front pastedown, three small cyanotype prints laid in, a very good copy; 24, [200]pp.