The Seaweed Collector's Handbook

'In the days that followed I collected nothing but seaweed: green, red brown and all the colours between; spotted, perforated, translucent, albino. I cut it loose from the rocks, plucked it from the surf or picked it up along the tideline. This was how it began.'

In this short, exquisitely illustrated portrait, the Dutch poet and artist Miek Zwamborn shares her discoveries of its history, culture and use, from the Neolithic people of the Orkney Islands to sushi artisans in modern Japan. We find seaweed troubling Columbus on his voyages across the Atlantic and intriguing von Humboldt in the Sargasso Sea. We follow its inspiration for artists from Hokusai to Matisse. We travel back in time to see the first photo album - Anna Atkins' seaweed cyanotypes - and to the Victorian seaweed collections.  and we glimpse at its potential as a counter to climate change, absorbing CO2 faster than tropical rainforest. 

Concluding with a fabulous series of recipes for the 'truffles of the sea', this is a book that gives us fresh new ways to look at the seaside.