Professor Dr. Karl Blossfeldt - Wunder in der Natur (THIRD BOOK, SUPER FRESH) - 1942

WONDERFUL EARLY THIRD PUBLICATION by legendary German photographer and scientist Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932).

VERY SCARCE OPPORTUNITY to own one of the three rare Karl Blossfeldt classics (Urformen der Kunst 1928, Wundergarten der Natur 1932, Wunder der Natur 1942).

BREATH-TAKING PHOTOGRAVURE PRINTING.
EXCELLENT, VERY FRESH CONDITION (one of the best conditions i have seen of that title the last 30 years).
COLLECTOR'S COPY.

THIS IS THE LAST EXCLUSIVE PHOTOBOOK AUCTION by 5Uhr30.com in 2025 -
with more than 100 great lots from my personal collection and from recent acquisitions.

Blossfeldt's first book 'Urformen der Kunst' is mentioned here:
- Martin Parr, The Photobook, page 96
- Andrew Roth, The Book of 101 Books, page 48
- The Open Book, Hasselblad Center, page 66/67
- 802 photo books of the M.+M. Auer collection, page 133

Like always 5Uhr30.com guarantees detailed and accurate descriptions, 100% transport protection, 100% transport insurance, and of course, combined shipping - worldwide.

"Neue Sachlichkeit gathered momentum when Karl Blossfeldt's breath-taking, detailed magnifications of plants, which he had taken around 1900 to assist him in modeling plants, were published in Original Forms of Art, 1928 (Urformen der Kunst), followed by the Magic Garden of Nature, 1932 (Wundergarten der Natur)".

5Uhr30.com says MANY THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT THIS YEAR -
making our single-seller photobook auctions on Catawiki so successful.
Ecki Heuser & team are wishing ALL THE BEST TO YOU AND YOURS for 2026.

H. Schmidt and C. Günther, Leipzig; Pantheon-Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft. 1942.
First edition, first printing.

Original book in blue linen. 47 x 325 mm. 252 pages. 120 black and white photographs on plates in photogravure. Photos: Karl Blossfeldt. Introduction: Otto Dannenberg. Text in German.

Condition:
Book outside excellent, much fresher than usual (often much more used and rubbed); very light trace of use only. Inside super clean with no marks and with no foxing. Lacks the jacket. Overall very fine condition.

Fantastic, scarce photobook by Prof Dr Karl Blossfeldt - in outstanding fresh condition.

"Karl Blossfeldt, German photographer known best for his stark close-up portraits of plants, twigs, seeds, leaves, and other flora.
In 1881 Blossfeldt began his studies as an apprentice at the Art Ironworks and Foundry in Mägdesprung, Germany, where he studied sculpture and iron casting. He then moved to Berlin to study at the School of the Museum of Decorative Arts (Kunstgewerbemuseum). In 1890 Blossfeldt received a scholarship to study in Rome under Moritz Meurer, a decorative artist and professor of ornament and design. Along with several other assistants, Blossfeldt created and photographed casts of botanical specimens in and around Rome. He continued to work with Meurer through 1896 and traveled beyond Italy to North Africa and Greece to collect specimens. Beginning in 1898 Blossfeldt taught design at the School of the Museum of Decorative Arts (Kunstgewerbeschule), and in 1930 he became professor emeritus. There he established a plant photography archive that he used to teach his students about design and patterns found in nature.
Blossfeldt had no formal training as a photographer and used homemade cameras that he outfitted with lenses capable of magnifying his subjects up to 30 times their natural size. The use of magnification resulted in images of extreme detail and clarity. With the precision of a botanist, Blossfeldt photographed the natural world for scientific and pedagogical purposes and inadvertently became a modern artist. His work was considered the forerunner to Neue Sachlichkeit photography, which favoured sharply focused documentarian images. In 1926, when Blossfeldt was already in his 60s, his work was exhibited to the public for the first time at Berlin’s avant-garde Galerie Nierendorf. The works exhibited there were published in the book Urformen der Kunst (1928; Art Forms in Nature [2003]). The first of his three photo books (the other two were Wundergarten der Natur, 1932; and Wunder in der Natur, 1942, the last published posthumously), it was enormously successful and remains one of the most-significant photo books of the 20th century."
(Wikipedia)