Claudia and I attended a release reception for a new book this past week: “Nature’s Beloved Son: John Muir’s Botanical Legacy”, published by Heyday Books. The book documents a lesser known aspect of Muir’s work – his interest in botany and the botanical specimens that he collected during his travels. The book’s authors are Bonnie Gisel and Stephen Joseph.
Stephen Joseph is a friend and fellow photographer who is known for his stunning panoramas of Mount Diablo. Stephen spent years photographing and scanning Muir’s actual botanical specimens borrowed from herbarea around the world. As you can imagine, some of the specimens were in very poor shape, so he had to spend many hours digitally “repairing” them in Photoshop. The results are spectacular.
Bonnie Gisel is a Muir scholar and environmental historian who is also curator of the LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite National Park. Bonnie contributed her extensive knowledge of Muir’s writings and his travels and interspersed that wonderful history with Stephen’s photos.
Heyday Books, did a magnificent job designing the book. The first printing will likely sell out quickly, so if you are at all interested, you should try and get your hands on a copy of this unique book sooner rather than later.
Additional Links:
- Heyday Press
- Scientific American review
- Cry for Joy (Audubon Magazine)
- Double Exposure – Interview with Bonnie and Stephen
- Stephen Joseph Photography
© 2008, Scott Hein. All rights reserved.
