The Fedor Petrovich Lütke expedition from Russia sailed to California where, where between 1826 and1829 geologists and naturalists collected seaweed specimens that were later portrayed in detailed lithographs. The magnificent elephant folio volume Illustrationes Algarum by Postels and Ruprecht was the result. In all, some 2,500 specimens of dried plants and of algae were gathered.

The digital scrolls here are from lithographs in the collection of the herbarium at the University of California, Berkeley. I worked with hi-res photographs of the fragile and damaged works to create digital restorations, and designed mountings so they could be hung as scrolls.

One odd one is a mashup of bird, fish, and a specimen of the seaweed Botryocladia pseudodichotoma collected by Mary S. Snyder on Oct 8, 1900 on the beach at La Jolla, San Diego. This specimen maintains its lovely original pink color that is reminiscent of plum blossoms.