Tuesday 4 December 2012 at 17:19
The illustrative plates from Snowflakes: a Chapter from the Book of Nature (1863), a collection of poems, extracts, anecdotes and reflections on the theme of snow and the snowflake. According to the preface of the book, apart from the first few geometrical figures at the top of the first plate, which show the primary geo- metrical forms under which the snow-vapor crystalizes, all the other forms shown are “representations of individual crystals, actually observed and sketched with the aid of the microscope”. See the full book, including various poems and extracts from literature related to snow, here in our Texts collection. For some more snowflake related content have a look at Keith C. Heidorn’s article on Wilson Bentley, “The Snowflake Man of Vermont”. (All images taken from the book Snowflakes: a chapter from the Book of Nature (1863) which is housed at the Internet Archive, contributed by the California Digital Library). Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/12/04/illustrations-of-snowflakes-1863/