New Zealand ferns
Edition: (also known as the "blue books")
Publisher: Herbert Boucher Dobbie
Published: 1880
Place of publication: Auckand, New Zealand
Language: eng
Notes: Five versions of the first edition of New Zealand ferns were produced by Herbert Dobbie and Eric Craig in the late nineteenth century. These are often referred to as the “blue books” because the pages have full-sized, white silhouettes of ferns on a blue background. The five versions are:

A: Dobbie, H. B. "145 Varieties of New Zealand ferns" In two parts. Part 1. (1880) pp. 1-48.
B: Dobbie, H. B. "New Zealand ferns. 148 Varieties." In two parts. Part 2, (1880) pp. 49-104.
C: Dobbie, H. B. "New Zealand ferns. 148 Varieties." (1880) 104p. 
D: Craig, E. "New Zealand ferns, 167 Varieties." (c. 1888) 104p.
E: Craig, E. "New Zealand ferns, 172 Varieties." Ed 2. (1892) 100p.

They were made by a process similar to blueprinting. A fern specimen was placed on chemically treated paper, which was then exposed to light for a set period of time. The paper was then washed in water which caused the exposed paper to turn blue while the paper under the fern remained white. 

Herbert B. Dobbie produced three hand-made book versions of fern illustrations (versions A-C). A few years later Dobbie sold the plates for this book to Eric Craig in Auckland who re-issued the books in c. 1888 and c.1892 (D-E).

There are very few fern specimens collected or identified by Dobbie in New Zealand’s herbarium collections. Dobbie's books, and particularly their images, are therefore the principal means of authenticating the identifications and names that he, as the New Zealand expert of that period, used for New Zealand ferns. The blue books are an important early window into Dobbie's understanding and interpretation of New Zealand fern taxonomy and diversity. They are also striking representations of New Zealand’s ferns.

[1] The “blue books” of H. B. Dobbie and Eric Craig, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0028825X.1989.10414116
 J. D. Mccraw (1989) The “blue books” of H. B. Dobbie and Eric Craig, New Zealand Journal of Botany, 27:3, 347-351, DOI: 10.1080/0028825X.1989.10414116

[2] Fern "blue books", https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/5418

[3] John D. McCraw. 'Dobbie, Herbert Boucher', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3d9/dobbie-herbert-boucher (accessed 2 January 2020)

[4] Sotheby's, Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural, History Dobbie (19 May 2019), Herbert Boucher, https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2019/travel-atlases-maps-l19401/lot.11.html

[5] Herbert Dobbie’s cyanotypes of New Zealand ferns, Alexandra Caccamo (Librarian, National Botanic Gardens, Ireland), 24 October 2018, https://rarebooksgroup.wordpress.com/2018/10/24/herbert-doobies-cyanotypes-of-new-zealand-ferns/