The Seaweed Collector’s Handbook

Miek Zwamborn

The Seaweed Collector’s Handbook

“Seaweed is so familiar, yet oddly mysterious. Even its names – pepper dulse, sea lettuce, carrageen – are little known to us. In this short, exquisitely illustrated portrait, the Dutch poet and artist Miek Zwamborn shares her discoveries of its history, culture and science, from the Neolithic people of the Orkney Islands to the sushi artisans in modern Japan. We find seaweed troubling Columbus on his voyages across the Atlantic and intriguing von Humboldt in the Sargasso Sea. We follow its inspiration for artists from Hokusai to Matisse. We travel back in time to see the first photo album – Anna Atkins’ seaweed cyanotypes – and to the Victorian seaweed collectors. And we glimpse at its potential as a counter to climate change, absorbing CO2 faster than tropical rainforest.”

Price: £9.99