These images are taken from 'British Fresh-Water Algae', a two-volume, 130-illustrated treatise published in 1882–1884 by Williams and Norgate, a London firm specialising in educational and scientific literature. Its author, Mordecai Cubitt Cooke (1825–1914), a native of Norfolk, intended it for “Microscopists desirous of knowing more about the organisms encountered during their excursions in ponds and ditches.” He proposed a “practical” classification, distinguishing between Chlorophyllophyceae (green algae), Phycochromophyceae (blue-green algae), Melanophyceae (brown or blackish algae), Rhodophyceae (pink and red algae), and Diatomophyceae (algae with a siliceous skeleton).
12 p, ills colour, 11 x 15 cm, postcard, French