Beulah Ernst’s 1922 “Weed Book” and “Tree Project Book” Full of Cyanotype Solar Prints

I was completely sold on this pair of notebooks—created by a miss Beulah Ernst in 1922—by the cover of the “Weed Book” alone, and felt pretty certain that a handmade notebook with such a title along with a cyanotype clover on the cover would be something I would love! Indeed, 19 more cyanotype solar prints inside that one, capturing leaves of ferns, violets, strawberry, mallow, dandelion, goldenrod, yarrow, and many more. On the reverse side , in most cases, some handwritten information about the plant, often more social than scientific: “in the spring the delicate violet brings much pleasure and sunshine to the hears of the sick”; or, of  Beggar’s Tick, “nobody likes these little pests…” And then the second, all about different species of trees. Every other page is a cyanotype solar print of a leaf, 20 total, which she’s carefully labeled, with the prior hand-written page providing information about that tree, usually a combination of social history, notable characteristics, common habitat, and use. With a poem by James Very to begin. Really wonderful things, which feel as if honoring weeds and trees in just the right manner, and which feel as though they should stay together as a two volume set so I am listing as a pair.

Trees: 7 5/8" x 5 3/8", nice weight watermarked laid paper, including 20 cyanotypes with blank backs.  Weeds: 7 3/8" x 5 3/8", nice weight wove paper, 19 cyanotypes. In most cases, in both, the name of the plant is hand-written directly on the white of the page, as pictured. Images included are representative of all.